German Motorhome Banned On Scottish Campsite
This story came to my attention recently – a family that were turned away from a Scottish campsite because their motorhome was a Hobby.
Apparently, Hobby caravans (although this was a motorhome) are widely associated with the travelling community and thus were unwelcome on this campsite. I have also heard of other UK campsites who choose to apply similar arbitrary and random restrictions on who can use their facilities.
The motorhome in question cost £58,000 and was a very high quality, smart vehicle – that would be a credit to any campsite. The campsite in question – the Red Lion Caravan Park in Arbroath – said that they did not allow Hobby caravans/motorhomes and that there was a privacy issue as the motorhome’s accomodation door was on the opposite side to that of most British motorhomes.
This leads me to wonder how they would behave if a European visitor – whose accomodation door would certainly be on the ‘wrong’ side – was unfortunate enough to try and stay at this campsite. Presumably they would be sent packing, especially if they had good enough fortune to have bought a Hobby motorhome.
It’s no wonder that so many British motorhomers go abroad – in mainland Europe, we’re actually welcomed, regardless of what make our motorhome is and which side its doors are on.
… there still is a long way to go to an unified Europe 🙁
Anyway: thanks for your post. 🙂
How true. We recently spent 3 weeks touring in Germany and the motorhome facilities are excellent – even though our door is on the wrong side 🙂
Hi,
the same happened to me last Thursday whilst on a caravan holiday. We turned up at Unity Holiday Resort, Brean Sands, Somerset with our Hobby tourer, welcome at all Caravan Club sites and were refused entry. This site advertises in the ACSI book with no mention of prohibited vans. They gave me the same excuse, all vans must have the door on the same side .TEC LMC Tabbart etc. all banned
Laurie,
More campsite madness… Did the campsite management tell you whether they accept visitors from Europe or do they ban them too?
Cheers, Roland
it it had an electric mover it could be turned roud – tow bar facing inwards and then the door would be on the same side – what excuse would they give then!
If these Hobbies are used for the traveling community and that is the single reason for not giving access to the owner then this must be subject to the Human Rights Act 1998 and The Equality Act 2010 outlaws discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, nationality or national or ethnic origins. It also outlines different kinds of discrimination, including…..direct discrimination (for example, if a site owner refuses to let you stay on their site because you are a Gypsy/Traveller) so just sue them and this will go away.
Steve,
You may well be right, technically, but a threat to sue might not help much when you turn up at a campsite, late in the day, and are turned away. Besides, I suspect that campsites such as this one use the supposed ‘privacy issue’ as a way of disguising the fact they are discriminating against the makes of caravan favoured by travellers.
Campsites are private places, so perhaps they do legally have the right to pick and choose which types of caravan are allowed on site – I don’t know. After all, many campsites charge extra for and sometimes prohibit twin axle caravans, but that is not considered unreasonable.
Cheers, Roland
Pingback: why exclude tuggers - Page 9 - MotorhomeFun