Arrival Time
We regularly use Ferry Meadows it is a lovely site. Wardens have not always been the best but this year they seem fine. We very often arrive quite early to the site as we use the A14 which is notorious for hold ups. This year we arrived at 1215hrs so waited in Wistow Way till 1235hrs then proceeded to site. I would point out that in our experience previously the site usually lets people through the outer gate from about 1125hrs (old arrival times). When we got to the gate we used intercom to tell of our arrival and got the terse reply "your 25mins early". We then saw who we thought was the warden walking over to us and as she was approaching the car said again with a not particularly friendly tone "Mr Wales I take it". She then in the same unfriendly tone told as we would have to leave as we were early and they did not let anyone in until 1300hrs. I then asked if she would let us through so that we could turn round to leave the site. Pointing to the guy on the next gate in her same unfriendly tone she said "he will let you through". You might think i am complaining about not being let in but this is not the case as i have always thought that all the sites should do exactly this and turn people away until the correct time as this would be better than the situation at present when all sites differ. I did object to the way she spoke to us which was not as per the club magazine stated this month (the wardens provide a warm and friendly service to members. and our staff are passionate about delivering great customer service"). So we went back to Wistow Way to wait until the stated entry time of 1300hrs. We arrived back at the gate at 1301hrs and there were already caravans on site looking for spots and several more within the outer gate waiting to go through. So much to my disappointment we were lied to about the time they let people on site. So i was very disappointed as i thought at last the club are being serious and all sites would stick rigidly to the correct time. The point is if they let people in at 1245 this time next time might well get there at 1240hrs etc. So it is all self defeating if they do not stick rigidly to 1300hrs.
We actually watched the gate from the site we were on for the next 2 weeks and discovered that they let people through the outer gate at 1245hrs and let them through the inner gate at 1250hrs. Plus different sites will set there own times as in the past and so we are no better off about what time to arrive.
We later discovered that the warden who spoke to us at the gate was in fact not the warden but amazingly was there to train staff. She should have training on how to speak to members to fall in with the description in this months magazine ie provide a warm and friendly service to members and passionate about delivering great customer service.
The lady in question did have occasion to speak with us again about a windbreak positioning while she was absolutely correct it was done in the same unfriendly tone.
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