George and the Dragon

Briefly, the family has clubbed together and purchased a second hand motorhome. My feelings, in the past, about caravan and motorhome ownership have been that they are expensive to buy and then to stick on the drive for 50 weeks out of each year. I have retired now so times have changed.

With my wife being doubly incontinent and needing hand feeding, hotels and boarding houses with their restrictions on meal times and rules about coming and going are out of the question, as is my favourite holiday, boating.

It seemed that we would be unable to have a holiday at all this year until the kids came up with the idea of the motorhome.  So we took the plunge. We had some modifications made to the van to make it easier for Jean to get in and out and even joined the Caravan Club.

Yesterday, Saturday 29^th June, Jean and I were elected to give it a run out and see if there were any snags that needed ironing out. I phoned the site I was wanted to visit and booked us in and was told that they shut at 5pm. I expected to get there well before that time but asked for an extension just in case we could not make it. The chap (don’t know his name but I shall call him George) on the end of the phone was very obliging and told me that we could have an extension up to 8pm.

As it was, after some difficulties with Jean, we arrived at 5.15pm and were met by the Dragon. The welcome to site was, to say the least, brusque and with no sign of humour or caring at all.

At machine gun pace, I had a site map and swipe card thrust at me, a pitch allocated and instructions on how, exactly, to park. Pitch post to the left if forward parking or to the right if parking rear on. No explanation was given as to why and her attitude was not conducive to asking questions at all. The £19.60 site fee was handed over and received without a thank you.

I would ask you to remember that this was the first campsite I had ever used and, due to the lateness of the afternoon and the fact the Jean was getting restless and needed toileting, I parked at my allocated pitch, regardless of the instructions given.

After that I plugged in the hook up cable to the allocated post and went back into the van to use the microwave. Neither the fridge nor the microwave worked. I pressed a few buttons inside the van. Nothing. Unplugged the cable and replugged it. Nothing.

We cooked by gas, had our tea and then I wheeled Jean round to the Disabled toilet facility. By now it was 7.45pm. Got out my Radar key and was about to insert it in the keyhole when I spotted a notice on the door telling me that “Radar keys cannot be used”.

 I simply cannot understand why a campsite with electric barrier protection and has rows of toilets and shower rooms open 24/7 has a Disabled Toilet and shower room which needs protection by locking? Is someone going to run off with the loo? If so, why that loo and not one of the 30 others in the same block?  Perhaps the loo roll in there is gold plated or the grab bars are constructed with iridium? Why should the Disabled Toilet key on the site be different to the Nationally accepted Radar keys?

Back to reception and ring the bell. It was made plain to me that it was my fault for not telling the Dragon that emerged from the garden gate at the side of reception that I had a Disabled person with me and would have to wait 5 minutes while all the alarms in the reception area were disabled so that a key could be handed over. “I hope”, she said in an accusatory tone as she handed the key over, “that you have not put your Radar key in the lock because you will have damaged it.”

Slightly later as I pushing Jean in her wheelchair towards the town, we met a young couple coming the opposite way. They were obviously heading for site and I asked them if they were having problems with the electric supply to their caravan as I could not get anything electrical to work. “Have you twisted it? When you insert the plug to the hook up stand you should give it a twist and then press the red button when you want to release it.”

Perhaps it is my fault for not looking up these things in the Caravan Club book before we started out but I have had a look since and can find no reference to it.

And finally, on Sunday morning 30^th June, my daughter came to visit me on the campsite to see how we were going on. She was told that she was not a verified visitor and, because I had parked incorrectly and not in accordance with specific instructions, she would not be allowed to park next to the van. She had to cart a picnic table, fold up chairs,  2 kids under the age of 4 and a basket of food from the car park to where my van was sited.

So having reported the following to yourselves, I respectfully request an answer to the following question:

Are all Caravan Club sites run on unfriendliness, uncaring, unwelcoming and unhelpful site owners? If so, I shall be asking for a refund of the fee I paid to join.

I am now very wary of approaching any of approved sites in the future