Caravan Park force tow bar to road?? Avoid Pt Vincent Foreshore CP

[shrek4]

Has anyone else come across a caravan park that mandates that all caravans and camper trailers have their tow bar/tow hitch facing the road?

Just checked in at Pt Vincent Foreshore CP to be told this upon check-in. This means our entire camp orientation is facing our neighbours behind us.

We'd rather face the road/street to keep an eye on the kids on their bikes.

Despite their being plenty of room to orient the CT any way the office flatly refuses.

Their reasoning is that vehicles must be ready to go at anytime in case of a fire etc.

What rubbish! I could tell you if there was a fire we wouldn't be hanging about to pack up the camper trailer. Can you imagine! By the time we packed everything away we'd be cactus. The way our CT faces does not change this fact.

All this has done is infuriate us and sour the start to our holiday.

Is this an idiotic policy or am I being precious? 

[D4D]

Has anyone else come across a caravan park that mandates that all caravans and camper trailers have their tow bar/tow hitch facing the road?

Is this an idiotic policy or am I being precious? 

Yes this is SoP for all caravan parks.

Yes you're being precious, have a drink, relax you're on holiday and think of the poor schmuks like me who have to go to work tomorrow.

[02-SR5]

It is the same here at Tallabuggera (currently here with beer in hand).

However, it isn't enforced.

Caravan parks are not designed for soft floor campers.

But mine is facing the wrong way so I too can face the street and watch the kids.

If they want it turned around, they can come and do it themselves.

[shrek4]

Yes this is SoP for all caravan parks.

This is the first park we've ever stayed in that has this rule. We were told by a friendly Neighbour that the rule is enforced as they've already seen one CT have to move / face the correct way as directed by the management.

[Swannie]

Most CP have this policy

Swannie

[Pog]

I have only stayed in a few caravan parks (I try to avoid them like the plague), but I always spin mine around so the rear is facing the road.

In Broken Hill at the Top Tourist CP, I had to go in sideways as the sites were so small, we couldn't fit in any other way.... I wasn't happy about that a were were there for 4 nights.

[firefox]

Been in 38 caravan parks in 6 months. This is not unusual actually it's the normal.

In some places they are nice if you talk with the managers and explain what u want to do.

I agree in some cases it's stupid, however I've also seen people setup their site half over someone else's and told to lump it.

I pulled into a park yesterday only to be told by the neighbour that my van was too big and I should go away. Was happy they had a park manager onsite, as he told the next door guy to get his damn car off my site immediately and remove it from the park.

I believe if it wasn't going to impact anyone and you asked management hey would probably say ok. But I do feel there are multiple reasons for it. Unfortunately there are myswaggers campers that are nice and courteous and there are non myswaggers that are just plain terrible.

I've seen then Bo.

[shrek4]

If this is the way CP are going we'll stick to bush camping me thinks.

I'm shocked this idiotic policy exists let alone is so prevalent.

Is it an attempt to keep CTs out of caravan parks?

I'll calm down once kids are in bed and scotch is out.   

[shrek4]

I approached management and was polite and courteous however they would not budge. They understood my problem and the implications of their policy but alas, still a no go!

[Pete_R]

Most CP's have this rule but it is usually never enforced except for caravans, not for Camper/Tent trailers. I'd certainly put this Park on the list of ones not to go back to. Like you said, if there was an emergency, I'd be leaving the camper behind due to length of time to pack up compared to a caravan

[dazzler]

if you put it in hitch first how do you get it out when someone is camped later in the adjacent spot?


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[Pete_R]

if you put it in hitch first how do you get it out when someone is camped later in the adjacent spot?


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Easy. Just push it around. Even with mine which weighs almost 1.3t dry, I can use my ratchet jockey wheel to turn it around almost 180 degrees then hitch it up.

[shrek4]

Easy. Just push it around. Even with mine which weighs almost 1.3t dry, I can use my ratchet jockey wheel to turn it around almost 180 degrees then hitch it up.

Exactly. Ours doesn't take too much effort to spin around.

[Bird]

Easy. Just push it around. Even with mine which weighs almost 1.3t dry, I can use my ratchet jockey wheel to turn it around almost 180 degrees then hitch it up.

Good luck pushing 1.3t dry camper around on wet soft spongy grass without a ratchet jockey wheel as not everyone has them...

To the OP.. you may also hate some parks that make everyone park on a certain side of the site (all on the right or all on the left) AND facing one direction so you aren't listening to your neighbours that would be 2ft from your windows while they are rooting all night..

[D4D]

As stated before it is SoP for caravan parks, a requirement of public liability insurance and OH&S. Don't hate the man, hate the game...

[Landyline]

I try to avoid caravan parks but my wife prefers them so I've stayed in a few

I've only ever stayed at two that had this rule. One of them had a bunch of other crazy rules as well.
If this is an insurance stipulation it is unfortunate as it could be their undoing as no one I talked to at either park was happy about it and they all said they would not be back.

[Topender]

So it was explained to me like this.........the hitch needs to face the curb so in the event your camper / caravan etc etc catches fire or some other emergency your camper or caravan can be dragged away preventing damage to other people and equipment. Or some thing like that. Like has already been said it is very common to be told this and just a fact of life in caravan parks I suppose.

Dave

[xcvator]

We stayed at a caravan park in the town that "Speewa" lives in and the manager and I had a bit of a chat about these sort of things, and it's not always the caravan parks management that is to blame. The local councils like to have quite a bit to say about the tow balls facing the road, but the biggy in Victoria seems to be the "CFA" that has drawn up a series of regulations  that cover minimum distances between camp sites ( actual wall to wall measurements) and how far into this minimum area the guy ropes, if used, can encroach so that there fire fighters will have unimpeaded space to run between blazing vans and tents .
The manager of this park was quite reasonable, he didn't like the rules, but he had to enforce them. So sometimes the people running these places are getting stuck between a rock and a hard place
  Keith

[Big Damo]

Hi Shrek4
I understand it is some type of regulation that some parks do enforce.
Better to find a park where correct orientation for a camper is the way you would want to face.
I have booked into a site at the riverbend caravan park at Renmark where the back of the camper is facing the Murray river when draw bar is facing the road. Perfect setup for a camper.
Also have stayed at Cobdogla and they had no issue with us parking draw bar in to orientate the back of the camper towards the lagoon. Just try and research the park layouts and pick your site or ask before booking.
That's my 2 cents worth better luck next time

[HoMErMY12]

I've stayed in that park a few years ago. My problem is we have a trailer to carry our gear and tent it. Where and how do I leave my trailer then? I think last time it was just to the side of my shade area where the cars meant to go and the car was across the front of the site parallel to the road, I can't really remember.

[Symon]

The CP's that do enforce this rule are probably the ones who have been previously fined for not enforcing it.

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[HEM19X]

All well & good BUT I wonder WHO would be able to tow the CT away? Especially considering that a lot of them have Off Road Hitches. Pretty sure a DO35  hitch would not be available if we were not there!!

[GeoffA]

In an emergency, would they bother if it wasn't hooked on properly?
Probably just attach it the best way they could, and drag it by the chains with a tractor........

....like this....

Camper trailer with hitch locking device towed away

Copied the vid from Shane's thread....have a look....

http://www.myswag.org/index.php?topic=29806.msg547640#new

[kiwi_camper]

We had the same at 1770 and the management didn't think to tell us when we checked-in. Fortunately, one of their employees came over (after we had spent 20 minutes positioning the CT) to tell us we had to turn around. If we had already set-up then that's the way it would have stayed. We spent the week looking into our neighbours tent and vise versa. They told us it was a fire safety requirement, that we be able to get out of the campground quickly. Hubby was a fire fighter and couldn't understand the logic of that. Surely if there was a fire you'd want to get out quickly and not stick around to pack up your CT? Ours takes about 2-3 hours to pack up and if there was a fire on the way we'd be out of there. Slightly different however if you or a neighbour set their CT on fire. Hasn't happened to us yet and hope it never does.

[Bird]

In an emergency, would they bother if it wasn't hooked on properly?
Probably just attach it the best way they could, and drag it by the chains with a tractor........

if it was on fire, they would just throw a chain around anything and drag it the **** out of the way! not like they can damage it worse than the fire.