Rip off Southern Britain

[robjmckinney]

Well enjoyed a little wild camping around Swanage, fantastic weather, nice spots suggested on here. But ripped off every spot to park near to the sea and even then made you walk a fair distance to get to the beach. We tried every little road down to the coast between Swanage and Lyme Regis. At every one a little man in a little booth demanding money and no overnight camping etc, etc.

Only on Chesil Beach could you claim to be a fisherman therefore a right to stay overnight, no rod with me but he allowed us on overnight. So if you are ever around this 'neck of the woods' bring a rod for a true experince of beach (well field next it!) wildcamping.

Wildcamping is a difficult pastime that seems to be a dying art in the South unless we stick away from the coast and enjoy long walks, not always an option to us cripples. The off coast camping did offer some outstanding views of the countryside to compensate for the rip off beaches!

[barnybg]

Yes,It is a shame that everything evolves around money,surely the council's of the areas along our coastline should provide something JUST for motorhomes to park up.
How about starting a petition or something 'wildcamping' to save the way of life,before it's too late.

[Dezi]

Hi Robjmckinney, Its a fact of life regarding the difficulty of free overnighting and not just down here on the south coast. Recently coming down from Scotland we saw many of our old places in the north of England had boulders across the entrances - even laybyes. Yet heavy goods vehicles have to make regular stops to comply with the law, crazy. On the Continent the law that came in a few years ago restricting heavy goods lorries travelling on motorways for part of the weekend was the best thing that happened to us. Suddenly service stations were providing lots of extras & expecting you to stay FREELY overnight and use the facilities. Many in Germany even have picnic areas set aside & are quite happy for you to spend the weekend there. Its a different attitude over here unfortunatly.

Dezi

I wonder if "they" are using this and similar websites to gain information and then go out and block off the pull in? What do you think?

[GARY ENGLISH]

Have a look at the national trust,the have a lot off places of intrest and a lot of parking ,can be worth joining for the year.They dont allow over night parking.Have a look round as there is usually a lot of offers on there membership,just had ours renewed saved 30 pounds on a family membership,just through a phone call.

[GARY ENGLISH]

I had a chat to a man at poole the other year,and he was taking numbers and times of people in vans parking up.He was against motorhome owners parking along the front ,he got his information of one off the sites.

[Baggins]

I question Bournemouth & Poole's right to specifically ban motorhomes and vans from parking on certain roads.

When I used to travel with a Disabled Badge holder I ignored the notices and did not get a ticket - which I should have appealed to the top and given the town due publicity.

Regarding Blue Badges: Under DDA councils are obliged to provide a percentage of places on every public car park - even in tourist hot-spots.

Vehicles that are registered as plg for excise duty surely should all have the same rights?

BW

[robjmckinney]

Having a boat on a NT mooring I find them the most expensive rip off, their car parks are the dearest except one, another wildlife trust, £10 parking. I'm afraid being a memeber of NT does not give you discount on moorings but if we continue to find this 'rip off' issues along the coast it might be worth looking into!

Bonus about Poole was the free internet around their park area, dead easy to connect and reasonable speed. I sadly opted for '3', a total waste of space around Dorset!

I have a disabled badge, paid full price on all the beaches and no spaces for disabled people, found alot of the beaches to diffircult to gain access. Sad, would loved to do the South Coast Walk if I had been fit enough. Even got me thinking of getting a sailing boat to do the coastal tour, but again to great a risk and I'm to slow, atleast I would not pay the parking fees though!

Ive said it before and I,ll say it again, all these things happen because basically we put up with it. Theres a bit of murmering then its forgotten about. Bad press is the one thing politicians and local councillors dont want, we are not dealing in scrap nor tarmacing drives, and if a mass protest by usually law abiding people(with the right press informed) in a car park or seafront is the way to go! Count me in....Bob

[robjmckinney]

One interesting point was that there must have 30 or more wildcampers in Swanage as we drove round the town, every car park had 5 or 10 vans!

So many I had to stop counting!