Use of service points

As a caravanner, I am also in favour of the Club making provision for MH members to use a "dump and fill" facility.  If they are truly the Caravan and Motorhome Club, then MHs and their differing needs should be provided for.

Having seen what can be done elsewhere, it does not seem to me that it would be so difficult to provide this facility.  Providing it does not mean approving of so called "wild camping", rather it is a service to members, who I am sure would be happy to pay a reasonable amount.   As an add on, non members could  also be admitted and be charged a higher fee.

It would also be a service to the environment to show that there is no need for anyone to dump waste in non approved places.  If they do, then they should be severely dealt with.

In my home country, Norway, "wild camping" is very common, mainly  MHs in my experience.   There are numerous places where one can fill and dump.......camp sites, fuel stations, official overnighting places.  Most charge for the facility, a few do not.  Quite a few are organised by local councils.

MHs visiting the area and the owners spending money on food and fuel is generally reckoned as a good thing.

I tend to agree with your thoughts. Having just been on the big Hillhead site which has an awkwardly placed but fairly new MSP in the centre of the site (many other sites have similar awkward set ups even with the drive over upgrades) it was a case of fingers crossed on approaching the MSP in case of a queue and limited parking. Getting to this service point and on other sites too involves a circuit of the site. There's nothing convenient about it for anyone. Had sites been designed with easy access service points at the entrance or exit it might be a different matter.

The C&CC does provide access for a fee >LINK< but even this is limited to certain sites and is for members only and isn't always available. So it's not a foregone conclusion that you can just turn up and avail yourself of facilities, other factors can limit the availability.

Probably the Aire type places being developed in Scotland are the way forward for non-site users.

The user and all related content has been deleted

I've seen one of those where the machine refused to release the cassette! Oh **** I thought! I'm never using that.

For such a huge site as Hillhead, there isn't the excuse of 'cramped UK' for the job they've done there...miles from the exit (the most logical place for it, often causes vans to complete two circuits of the site to dump and then exit) and poor space for queuing, especially with such a large number of vans...

its things like this where I feel no one in the clubs design team has ever used a MH nor visited a MH friendly country and checked our best practice for what should be a simple exercise.

 ... its things like this where I feel no one in the clubs design team has ever used a MH nor visited a MH friendly country and checked our best practice for what should be a simple exercise.

If only there were some experienced motorhome users they could have asked when designing the site .... 🙄😉

They are learning to an extent. This new one at Cirencester is just before the exit. The existing one requires half the site to exit and re-enter to use it.  Unfortunately, although well placed, there isn’t much scope for queuing if anyone is using it. They are trying though.😀

Well Steve, if that's 'learning'.....👎

It’s not all nirvana in relation to MH service points over there BB. True we have only visited with a MH once, but some of the quainter sites that we prefer, had really torturous service points. One only accessible if your RV was very small. Conversely some of the CAMC and C&CC smaller sites have perfectly adequate  facilities, even if it does take a bit of time to get there due to the one way system.

Steve, agreed. Of course there will be good and not so good everywhere, but having started with a clean slate in your example, then a passing place (widen the road) could have been added and perhaps another dump point along from the new one, ie one behind the other?

of course I'm critical, because we see such good examples when we travel, and none of it is rocket science...consider the location for ease access and exit from site, ensure sufficient space to allow vehicles to pass...

...and that's another factor that can cause problems....forcing all non dumping vehicles to pass the MHSP...due to the one way system...

...and the lengthy journeys MH have to make to get around to the MHSP and then exit.....again due to the one way system...

we are on a long, slim site that has a one way system...but the office and adjacent MHSP isn't on it....guests leaving can get there without coming back onto the site and the one way...

similarly, visiting vans using the dump facility (there's a novelty) also don't need to venture 'onto site'.

it's not a massive area, the entrance area to many a club site is equally large but you'd never see a MHSP placed there on a club site, despite being the obvious place for convenience.

there's nothing clever about the one here (in fact it couldn't be simpler) it's just that the access is unhindered..