Can They Make This Stick?

[Cryptomaniac]

We noticed on a trip that a district council in NE Essex had imposed a parking ban along seafronts and adjoining roads on certain vehicles. The ban applied to caravanettes, caravans, motor homes and motor caravans (so no overkill here, eh?) Couldn't this ban be challenged under the type of legislation applying to sex, age and race discrimination? Let's call it vehicle discrimination. Admittedly the ban also applied to vehicles in excess of 5 tonnes, but there must be plenty of - shall we say - motor homes, which are far less than that and many bulky commercial vans with no side and/or rear windows which would take up valuable seaside space that would be perfectly welcome. If this council wants to ban overnight camping, that's another matter. But what's going on here?

[DJHawkes]

so what they are doing is actually trying to stop travellers parking up don't you think?

[EDDIE51]

Perfectly acceptable, the motor homes etc take up a wider section of the road and make it difficult for other vehicles to park or get past, plus people often park them and stay overnight in them to avoid paying fees for a camp site. A van is less likely to be used as overnight accommodation and it is probably only going to park while the driver loads or unloads .

[SMP]

I live in Llandudno and there is no overnight parking on the prom for caravans, motor homes etc.

[Dodger666]

If the council has a bye law banning it then it's OK. If there isn't any bye law they would have trouble prosecuting anyone.

We have problems along our road with cars parking on the pavement. The council say they can't do anything about it as there is no law against it. They can only prosecute if the vehicle is causing an obstruction. Even when the vehicle is causing an obstruction they do nothing as they are all in their warm offices. The same applies to dog fouling and litter dropping.

[factor-fiction]

These signs were common in coastal areas in California when I was there recently, although they usually specified some overnight hours to ensure people didn't use them for overnight stops.

[boxtops]

I think it's legit - they don't want people sleeping in vehicles there. Plain enough.

[SlackAlice]

A lot of the Kent seaside towns already have these parking bans in place and have done so for quite some time. Most of them also specify that day trip coaches must be outside the town limits by 6pm.

[factor-fiction]

But if that was the purpose it would be better I think to restrict parking of caravans etc to daylight hours. Maybe then it is also to do with the amount of space they take up during the day.

[Cryptomaniac]

I think the point I was trying to make about blatant discrimination - after all, I said that banning overnight camping would be a totally different matter - still sticks. And I think that I dealt with the matter of available space as being irrelevant considering that the ban did not apply to moderately-sized commercial vehicles - none of which would have been using the areas I visited for loading/ unloading in any conceivable way. It's the DAYTIME ban that worries me and I don't think this council should get away with it.

[Khandro]

I think the daytime ban is tough on a family with kids in say a VW camper van and lots of beach things, making them park a long way from the seafront. But I wouldn't want people sleeping overnight, cooking, and performing their ablutions in front of my house, there are campsites for that.

[New Judge]

It is only illegal to discriminate on a limited number of grounds - gender, race, religion, sexual orientation and disability are those that immediately spring to mind. These are grounds upon which it illegal to discriminate because legislation is in place to specifically prevent it. There is no legislation as far as I am aware that prevents discrimination based on the size or type of vehicle you wish to park. In the UK it is only against the law if legislation exists to prevent it or it has been established as illegal by way of common law. If it is not so prevented then it can be done.

[hc4361]

This has been in place in various parts of the country for many years. It is no fun if a camper, motorhome etc is parked outside your house with cooking smells , tv noise and the mess. I have seen it too many times to count - the frying pan fat and debris gets emptied on to the pavement, causing a greasy patch; toilets are emptied in the vague vicinity of a drain; wet washing flapping out of the window; litter bins stuffed full of their household rubbish, if it isn't just dumped alongside the bin.

These aren't travellers in the common sense of the word - these are holidaymakers trying to save a few quid on proper parking and facilities.