Petem95

Why the hell arent these banned or taxed??

Yesterday for the 3rd time in about a week I was held up because of a crash caused by a caravan, and every time I go out I get stuck behind one doing 40 on national speed limit roads :mads:

If the government was serious about road safety (which of course they arent) then these would be banned, but why on earth isnt there a caravan tax???!! Theyve taxed everything else, why the hell not these things??

They:

1) cause frequent accidents
2) cause massive traffic congestion
3) increase pollution as the tow car guzzles fuel to tow them

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I think caravans and trailers at the least should be required for MOT tests. HGV trailers do - so why not car trailers/caravans?

The amount of caravans I see that have punctures and blow outs - purely because they've been laid up for years to let the rubber perish and crack is enough alone to warrant MOT tests.

Then there is the brakes, binding because they've spent 11 months locked on, taken for a drive, they bind, shoes expand and locks a rear wheel. Either that or they fail completely - Jack knife time!!

I was blasting up the motorway at 4:00am yesturday morning to find carvanners out and about! Who calls getting up before 4:00am and driving the length of the country a holiday??? (I bet the neighbours loved them when they set off from their house ). And if they are not ina hurry to get to their destination, then they should pull in and let the 30 following cars past - I used to it when I was bogged down with the car trailer, so there is no excuse.

logiclee

Pete,

It may suprise you to know that the major caravan organisations are curently, and have been for a few years, lobbying the govenment, police and authorities to crack down on unsuitable and dangerous outfits.
The police have the legislation availbale to prosecute drivers who have unstable outfits or outfits that are unable to maintain speed.

A correctly loaded car and caravan should have no problem with stability and a modern car sticking to the 85% guidlines will have no problem keeping to national speed limits even on long motorway inclines. The problem is with people who don't understand the loading and weight issues and who tow with an underpowered car.

During the school holidays you tend to get a lot of first time or inexperienced towers and these tend to cause the problems rather than the experienced all year caravaner.

Unfortunatley the majority of police don't have a clue either so very few people are prosecuted.

Also worth remembering anyone who passed there test after 1996 or has been banned since 1996 have restrictions on what they can tow whithout taking an additional test.

The caravan industry would also welcome MOT testing and always recommend yealy servicing.

Cheers
Lee

logiclee

Yep, totally agree as do the majority of the industry and owners.


Probably left at 4am so they would cause less congestion, all the clubs recommend driving at off peak times and pulling in if there is a build up of traffic behind you. To be honest if they can't maintain 60mph then you have to question the suitability of thier tow car.
As for the drive, a 5 hour motorway drive is little different from the hassle of driving to airport-delay-flight-cases-transfer drive-booking into hotel-unpacking.
I don't enjoy either.

Cheers
Lee

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Avid cravanner lee??

I'm more of a motorhome man myself....Height barriers on almost every UK car park put an end to that though

Regacy

There is a legal requirement to ensure the weight of the trailer you're towing doesn’t exceed the maximum towing weight of your car. If you get it wrong then you get fined £1,000 and three points on your licence.
These guys http://www.towsafe.co.uk/ will do a check for you.
They have a database of all cars and caravans and can also include info about number of occupants in the car to give you an exact match.
It's worth knowing several police forces have bought access to their data and use it to perform their own checks....
And no I don't have a caravan.
R

OllyK

Allegedly my trailer can travel quite happily at well in excess of the legal limit when it is behind the scoob

logiclee

Who me????

I do the odd bit of mountain biking and surfing (Waves not net). A caravan is just the thing to spend every other weekend in the country side or to hit the waves at Fistral.

I run an Octavia to goto work in and it also pulls the van. Unladen the van is a 68% match and even fully laden, which it never is, is below 85%. Also have 200+lbft of torque. I've never hit a motorway or A road hill where I can't maintain 60mph+ and that's whithout changing out of top gear.

It actually annoys me when I see some of the outfits on the road espescially some of the Chavs who buy an old 19 footer and try and tow it with a 1.6 Escort.

If we had proper legislation and enforced it then perhaps all caravaners wouldn't get tarnished with the same brush.

Anyway if you see this holding you up it's me. Flamesuite on.


Cheers
Lee

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Talking of correct loading...has anyone ever seen the average Frenchman on a touring Holiday?

No need for a caravan...they just ram as much crap in their cars until its on the bump stops - with a load of junk piled 4ft high on the roof rack covered in bin liners

Flatcapdriver

Given that the Shed Draggers have Margaret Beckett as their leader, the chances of them being banned are low - which is a shame.

logiclee

No she's not the leader just a high profile and very active member. She, and a couple more government officials, recently opened the new bigger head office of the Camping and Caravanning Club.

As for the leader?

That would be David Bellamy, the chap with the beard.

It's currently boom time for caravan manufacturers, waiting lists for a new van can be quite long and have been so for a couple of years.
So look like being stuck behind more of them.

Not a cheap hobby though, decent size tow car and van will set you back around £35k and get into the 4X4 and twin axle zone and your up above £50k
Figure in upto £30 a night, insurance and servicing and a package holiday looks like peanuts. So you do have to enjoy the life style.


Cheers
Lee

Chip

I had a caravan for 10 years and had some fantastic holidays in it. Towed it with the scoob a few times so never held anyone up either. In fact I used to overtake more cars than used to overtake me sometimes.
Chip

Iwan

You don't know my neighbours and their chavtastic rolling deathtrap do you?

logiclee

Iwan,

Oh **** That has M5/A30 pile up written all over it.

This is why the main clubs and the industry are pleading for compulsory servicing and testing as well as the police enforcing the law.

I don't know your neighbours but I avoid commercial sites like the plague. Tend to stick to club sites and avoid the Chavs.


Cheers

Lee

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Oh god no

The mk5 Escorts used to run on the bump stops with 2 people in the back..let alone a laden caravan

Unless he had some spring helpers or a monroe leveling system fitted (yeah right....probably chopped a few coils off the springs to lower it instead )

Seriously though, that is one very old caravan (ci or a monza? ). How often has it had its wheel bearings, torsion springs or braking system checked? Is the chassis about to fall to bits (aka "******" )? How old are the tyres? what condition are the tyres in?

It's anyones guess, and that's why mandatory goverment enforced annual inspections are needed - for their safety as well as our own.

Jaybird-UK

Is that red car a Ford?




Hard to tell........

fast bloke

me too - haven't really had a problem with height restriction outside of the south east.... some scoob drivers do seem to have an issue when I sit up their *** at 80 on the mways while they hog the outside lane. Scoobs should be banned cos sometimes I get stuck behind one that is slower than me

ANyway - if they banned caravans it would deprive us motorhomers the opportunity to be snobs

logiclee

Some very nice motorhomes out there now. Must be a lot of people releasing cash from property at retirement.

Not sure if I would change to one though, we tend to drive about quite a lot once pitched so would probably want a supersized motorhome towing a car behind it.

Something like this would do

Although if your towing a car behind a motor home then why not tow a twin axle van behind a high powered 4X4 or Audi A8 V8 TDi for similar money?

It's an individual choice at the end of the day, which ever suites you best.

Cheers
Lee

Leslie

Its surprising how many owners don't know about making sure the the centre of gravity is just in front of the caravan's wheels so when you see them sashaying down the road the tail is wagging the dog. Highly dangerous and a crash looking for somewhere to happen.

Les

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

Caravans and trailers here are classed as a vehicle in their own right and as such are subject to the same laws as cars etc in as much as they have their own registration number and not the number of the tow car and they need to have TÜV inspection just like a car and this is stricter than the MOT in Britain.

I was towing a trailer back from Munich the other week with an impreza turbo strapped to it, with a NA 2.2 legacy and was quite happily motoring along at 140kmh I reckon either the driver is incompetent or to cautious or the tow car is not up to the job.

Flatcapdriver

She is the leader - all Shed Draggers aspire to be her. £50k for a bit of plywood and some aluminium? Strewth, where's the logic in that for what is at the end of the day a depreciating asset? £50k would get you half of Bulgaria which stands a better chance of appreciting and the views are better.

ChrisB

I passed on a Legacy towing a Fireblade and a 156 with another Caterham-esq nutter-mobile on the A50 yesterday. They weren't having around at all.

Iain Young

I've just got back from holiday. Towed the caravan all the way from Swindon to Switzerland and back on the motorways, and didn't slow down for a single hill on the way or cause any traffic problems. Even when travelling at 70mph on the French motorways, there was still more power there, (I was driving an Isuzu Trooper though, so plenty of power).

In my opinion, it is the chav culture that is spoiling it for eveyone else. Not all van owners are irresponsible. Like other people have mentioned, we tend to avoid the large commercial sites, and instead stay on the small club sites which are much quieter and friendly, as there are an increasing number of **** on the big commercial sites these days

I think a few things should happen...

1) All vans should be subject to an MOT
2) All van owners should be trained in correct driving procedures
3) All van owners should be trained in correct loading procedures
4) The 85% weight guidline should be law, and actively enforced by the police
5) There should be a law restricting the vehicles you can tow with when compared to the weight of the trailer (so you can only tow with a vehicle that is powerful enough to do it safely)

I get really tired when law abiding, sensible, considerate owners who drive safely get tarred with the same brush as the chavs

p.s. This thread should also be levelled at all those people who tow cars on trailers, especially when the trailer actually ends up heavier than the tow car. See loads of it happening on the motorways, (saw an escort towing a discovery on a trailer the other day), but do they get the same aggro as caravan owners. I think not

Iain

logiclee

Where's the logic in buying a Scoob and loosing £10k in three years when all the roads are congested and filled with speed camera's?

It's all about choice and lifestyle.

Actually most modern vans are made from alloys, composite, bonded resins, and some fibreglass/platics.

If you read my post correctly you will see I quoted the price of tow car and van. A small to medium unit will set you back £10k-£17k and large twin axle units £17k-£30k. You'll probably need a couple of grands worth of stuff on top though. Depreciation isn't bad, a well specced medium sized unit will loose around £7k in the average 7 years.
Spec wise your choices include leather, aircon, dual fuel underfloor central heating, heated towel rails, power showers, full sized fridge/freezer/cooker/microwave, in built LCD panels. The only downside is the weights of luxury units are that high you need an awesome tow car.


As for Bulgaria, go there every weekend would you? There aren't many countries that can rival the views the UK can offer. Know where the right site's are and you can wake up looking over a Scottish Loch, Lake Windermere, Cornish Coast or a Peak District Valley.
I still like some time in the sun abroad but why waste the other 50 weeks of the year?

Cheers
Lee

Iain Young

I'm totally with you Lee. You can't beat it

custard puddle

Monday 29th August 2005

British Caravan Grand Prix at Northampton International Raceway

One way to get rid of the *******