# Been asked to  move on?  Who by and why?



## Bazbro (Dec 20, 2015)

I'm curious...

Apart from "rowdies" during the night who think it a joke to bang on the side of a van, or the local boy-racers who use your formerly "quiet spot" as their local wheely practice area, what other night disturbances has anyone experienced?  I've not suffered the "rowdy" lot fortunately, and as soon as boy-racers show up, irrespective of the time, I move off.

But what I would really like to know is, if anyone has ever been asked to move on, who did the asking and why?  What would have resulted if a flat refusal to move had been your reply?

Again, it's not happened to me, but as I settle down, I'm mentally prepared for a confrontation.  Depending upon who is doing the asking and in what manner, would depend on my response!  I mean, has anyone ever had the police ask them to move on?  What was the reason given?  Or a Council official?

I've chanced my arm on a few occasions, in the belief that in that particular location the police aren't bothered and how many Council officials are around at gone midnight to try to enforce a possibly illegal "No overnighting" sign?

I'm just curious.  It's never happened to me, ever (apart from boy-racers) and I wonder whether it's a big problem or one that we just worry about unnecessarily?

My motorhome is small but clearly a motorhome.

Barry


----------



## Rapido (Dec 20, 2015)

*http://www.wildcamping.co.uk/forums/wild-camping-motorhome-chat/49838-been-asked-move*

Hi Barry
Where are you in the UK or in Europe


----------



## Rapido (Dec 20, 2015)

*http://www.wildcamping.co.uk/forums/wild-camping-motorhome-chat/49838-been-asked-move*

If you are referring to Spain, Portugal, Italy or France, then personally no I haven’t, but I try to stick to the law when wild-camping I never use levelling blocks leave my windows or doors fully open or have the awning out and have washing hanging of mirrors or the bike rack, all these items constitutes camping not parking.
But there are some that leave there waste water run every ware empty there potty’s on the side of the road in rain water drains and leave rubbish every ware, and then have the audacity to complain when moved on, I’m sure like me you would be the first to complain if someone was doing this near your home.
I like wild camping but I try to be sympathetic to the surroundings and the people that live there and as yet I’ve never had a problem perhaps I’ve just been lucky.

Regards
Ray


----------



## Bazbro (Dec 20, 2015)

Specifically in the UK, Ray, although I have wildcamped as an emergency/convenience measure in various parts of Europe for decades.

But, as you say, I'm always just "parked", never "camped" - a big difference.  And the van's always ready to drive away in an instant.  Also I cannot believe people that dump waste water, rubbish, etc., and who believe that not only is this acceptable but sustainable for wildcamping's future.

Yes, I do all you say and more.  I'm fortunate that I have an "overhead bed" that allows me to leave the blinds open, adding to the impression of merely "parking" and I've done this occasionally when I've been unsure about the status of the car park or whatever.

This really is all about "sensitivity".  I believe that, like you, I'm sensitive to the surroundings and my behaviour whereas others are not and can ruin this for all of us.  Maybe they are the ones that have the scare stories about being chased off?  That's why I like this community - the more of us who band together, form proper guidelines that all of us follow, the more likely we will remain untroubled by "authority".

Your last sentence sums it up nicely, Ray.

Barry


----------



## Deleted member 51254 (Dec 20, 2015)

*d left*

I have been asked to move on by the Police in France, I had inadvertently parked in the car park of a childrens nursery, it was 7am and the police were concerned the mums wouldnt be able to park. They were very nice about it and described an alternative spot I could go to. No fines or problems. I moved and that was that.

The second time was in a car park next to a nature reserve in Czech republic. I was frying my breakfast outside and the Police told me I shouldnt be camping. But they let me finish my breakfast and no hassle or fines.

The third time was by the car par attendant in an Italian car park. I was sat in a deck chair reading a book at 11am. Apparently that constituted camping even tho I was 50 yards from a beach full of people sat in chairs. Again no further action, I put my chair away and life went on.

The fourth time was when Sainsburys in Canterbury issued me a parking fine of 100 pounds via their firm Parking Eye. This was at 4pm and I had been shopping in the store and wasnt actually thinking of sleeping there. I wrote to the chief exec of Sainsbury and the fine was dismissed.

Whilst Wild Camping by an outdoor pool in a German Stell Platz car park also near some woods I was settling down when I was surrounded by youths on bikes. I packed up and left, stopping by a Restaurant 50 kms away instead.

Generally though provided you are polite and sensible and prepared to move on there are no consequencies. I was a Wolf Cub and a Boy Scout then later a Soldier for 13 years, camping all over the place. I was always taught to leave no mess, disturb nothing and be discrete - it seems to work.


----------



## Deleted member 51254 (Dec 20, 2015)

*Disturbed Wild Camping*

I have been asked to move on by the Police in France, I had inadvertently parked in the car park of a childrens nursery, it was 7am and the police were concerned the mums wouldnt be able to park. They were very nice about it and described an alternative spot I could go to. No fines or problems. I moved and that was that.

The second time was in a car park next to a nature reserve in Czech republic. I was frying my breakfast outside and the Police told me I shouldnt be camping. But they let me finish my breakfast and no hassle or fines.

The third time was by the car par attendant in an Italian car park. I was sat in a deck chair reading a book at 11am. Apparently that constituted camping even tho I was 50 yards from a beach full of people sat in chairs. Again no further action, I put my chair away and life went on.

The fourth time was when Sainsburys in Canterbury issued me a parking fine of 100 pounds via their firm Parking Eye. This was at 4pm and I had been shopping in the store and wasnt actually thinking of sleeping there. I wrote to the chief exec of Sainsbury and the fine was dismissed.

Whilst Wild Camping by an outdoor pool in a German Stell Platz car park also near some woods I was settling down when I was surrounded by youths on bikes. I packed up and left, stopping by a Restaurant 50 kms away instead.

Generally though provided you are polite and sensible and prepared to move on there are no consequencies. I was a Wolf Cub and a Boy Scout then later a Soldier for 13 years, camping all over the place. I was always taught to leave no mess, disturb nothing and be discrete - it seems to work.


----------



## Asterix (Dec 20, 2015)

Can't say I've had any problems in the UK apart from boy racers,the dog usually sits on the front seat and discourages anyone from coming close,and I never block the cab windows,so he can see out,and people can see him.


----------



## ricc (Dec 20, 2015)

i recall we were spoken to by some sort of warden somewhere in the new forest , we were parked up with a landrover and caravan, upshot was we stayed one night but were warned not to stop longer , I think perhaps  we should have bought some sort of permit but  can't remember the details cos it was in the late sixties.


----------



## Kontiki (Dec 20, 2015)

We have been told to move once by the police in Spain, they drove around the motorhomes just saying '10 mins you go'. 2 other times once in Javea we had a note stuck under our wiper in different languages telling us that we had to use the campsite & not 'camp' anywhere else (we weren't camped but moved on anyway). Another time we had a guy from the port saying politely that we shouldn't be stopping there overnight, we were due to leave anyway.


----------



## n brown (Dec 20, 2015)

i'm sure this one's been done before ! i've been woken up at 9am in Wales by a woman shouting in a voice like the Queen's, that i was illegally parked and i must therefore leave immediately! 
this caused me to break out in hysterical laughter, which made her even angrier. i couldn't speak for laughing and she finally gave up and cleared off,muttering threats and imprecations.
apart from police with machine guns in Portugal and Spain, gendarmes ''allez maintenant!! '' at 2 am, markets being erected around us,trapping us for days, having an illegal rave spring up all round and being bothered by doggers and badger baiters, it's been quite uneventful


----------



## 1 Cup (Dec 20, 2015)

*we have flashing lights*


:mad1: This is illegal yes / no 

Would this be camping on the street ?
:dance:


----------



## 1 Cup (Dec 20, 2015)

*we have flashing lights*

View attachment 36086:mad1: This is illegal yes / no 

Would this be camping on the street ?
:dance:
View attachment 36084


----------



## yorkshire lad (Dec 20, 2015)

Got to Edinburgh 2am back in 1996, falling asleep so just parked up, then at 7am I got a nock on the door by a very large Scottish police Sargent,  my eyes were still half closed till I saw how big and who he was, we have been watching you and as you got here in the middle of the night we let you have a few hours rest but please can you move on now as you stopped right outside the gate to holyrood and we could do with you moving on now, now he could of been a lot more aggressive  but he was not as I can imagine the met police if I was down London outside Ower lizzy s  palace, that's the only time I have been asked to move on and I know I was knackered but it was totally my fault :sleep-027::scared::drive:


----------



## Deleted member 9849 (Dec 20, 2015)

I have only been asked to move once and that was at John O Groats.We arrived late evening and parked up on the campsite overflow car park intending to book into the campsite the following morning.There was a knock on the door at 9pm,it was the campsite owner who quite reasonably explained that I couldn't park there overnight.I told him that I was going on his site the following day anyway and would just move across the road and stop the night in the public car park,which I did.
The sceptical look on his face made me think he didn't believe me,he looked quite surprised when we walked into the site reception and booked in the following day.

He turned out to be a friendly chap and we stopped there for 4 nights.In conversation the site owner told me he tries to deter motorhomes parking outside because of the herding instinct which affects his trade.If people see another van parked up very often they join them thinking it's ok to park there,I think the site owner had a point.
It has happened to us in the past where we have found a lovely remote spot only to be joined by another van which comes and parks right next door blocking the view when there is loads of room.


----------



## yorkieowl (Dec 20, 2015)

Been asked to move once, we parked up in the early hours, shattered,  intending to move first thing, just in the entrance way to a field with a locked gate that looked unused, (we don't make a habit of this), the farmer turned up early and said he wanted to get in, we apologised but he was lovely and said no rush as my hubby had to get up to move.  Only other time we had parked in a military viewing area and decided to stay overnight, they came round in the morning to do a security check and find out what we were doing, told them we were moving on in the afternoon if that was okay, they didn't have a problem with that and ended up stopping for a ten minute chat.  Think if you're friendly and apologetic it goes a long way.


----------



## FULL TIMER (Dec 21, 2015)

only ever been asked to move twice, once in Devon many years ago whilst stopping in a layby local copper literally escorted us to a safer one a few miles down the road, another time in Cornwall I pulled onto  a pay & display car park at about 2 am thought I would get up early if needed and stick some money in the machine ,any way woke up a bit late to a knock on the window by the irate market superintendent  to find I was in the middle of the local weekly market, he wasn't pleased and it took some organising to get us off the site.


----------



## Jimhunterj4 (Dec 21, 2015)

yorkshire lad said:


> Got to Edinburgh 2am back in 1996, falling asleep so just parked up, then at 7am I got a nock on the door by a very large Scottish police Sargent,  my eyes were still half closed till I saw how big and who he was, we have been watching you and as you got here in the middle of the night we let you have a few hours rest but please can you move on now as you stopped right outside the gate to holyrood and we could do with you moving on now, now he could of been a lot more aggressive  but he was not as I can imagine the met police if I was down London outside Ower lizzy s  palace, that's the only time I have been asked to move on and I know I was knackered but it was totally my fault :sleep-027::scared::drive:



Because there was never going to be anyone of importance inside for you to bother mate lol


----------



## Jimhunterj4 (Dec 21, 2015)

I've never been moved on myself in the 3 years I've been wild camping, 
Although I do tend to stay clear of places that I think there's a chance of "being chapped up" or disturbed or places that I know there's been a problem with the locals not wanting wild campers, and the no camping signs in some places may have no legal standing they are warnings signs not a challenge, why bother putting my motorhome at risk from vandalism, or worse my knuckles and somebody's mush from injury when I can just pick my wild camping spots a bit better and conduct my wild camping in a safe, tidy and appropriate manner


----------



## RichardHelen262 (Dec 21, 2015)

We are quite new to this but have never had any problems, just lots of fun


----------



## Penny13 (Dec 21, 2015)

We where hassled by a man in a free car park said he was the warden, I was polite and answered all his reasons why we should go with why we wouldn't  turns out he wasn't the warden anyway just a local busy body ! 
When he said he would lock us in till the morning he was shocked when I said oh good we will be safe  

I ask in a lot of places if possible


----------



## Bazbro (Dec 21, 2015)

For information, if anyone does, or threatens to, lock you in anywhere, that's false imprisonment and a criminal offence so don't be frightened by the threat!  
There are a lot of bullies out there...

Barry


----------



## 271 (Dec 21, 2015)

Bazbro said:


> For information, if anyone does, or threatens to, lock you in anywhere, that's false imprisonment and a criminal offence so don't be frightened by the threat!
> There are a lot of bullies out there...
> 
> Barry


It may well constitute an offence under Section 54 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, i.e. an offence to clamp, tow, block in or otherwise immobilise a vehicle
without lawful authority in England and Wales, it is most certainly not false imprisonment.


----------



## Bazbro (Dec 21, 2015)

> It may well constitute an offence under Section 54 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, i.e. an offence to clamp, tow, block in or otherwise immobilise a vehicle
> without lawful authority in England and Wales, it is *most certainly not false imprisonment*.



I beg to differ.  
"False imprisonment" is a Common Law offence and as such not rescinded nor overruled by statute.  
In addition, whilst you are travelling, your motorhome is your home (albeit temporary though for full-timers it's their permanent home) it can be argued that you would be either imprisoned within your home or forced to leave your home to "escape" the restriction being placed upon your free movement by the S54 offence.

Barry


----------



## 271 (Dec 21, 2015)

Bazbro said:


> I beg to differ.
> "False imprisonment" is a Common Law offence and as such not rescinded nor overruled by statute.
> In addition, whilst you are travelling, your motorhome is your home (albeit temporary though for full-timers it's their permanent home) it can be argued that you would be either imprisoned within your home or forced to leave your home to "escape" the restriction being placed upon your free movement by the S54 offence.
> 
> Barry



Good luck with that one.


----------



## northernspirit2001 (Dec 21, 2015)

*indeed...*



n brown said:


> i'm sure this one's been done before ! i've been woken up at 9am in Wales by a woman shouting in a voice like the Queen's, that i was illegally parked and i must therefore leave immediately!
> this caused me to break out in hysterical laughter, which made her even angrier. i couldn't speak for laughing and she finally gave up and cleared off,muttering threats and imprecations.
> apart from police with machine guns in Portugal and Spain, gendarmes ''allez maintenant!! '' at 2 am, markets being erected around us,trapping us for days, having an illegal rave spring up all round and being bothered by doggers and badger baiters, it's been quite uneventful



Can relate to all those instances except the rave, the market was the one we talk about the most. They were polite but spoke only Italian, gesticulating a move to the edge. Had to wait till lunchtime when the market finished as we were hemmed in. 

Our shouty woman was in Tintagel, a dog walker put her dogs in her car, came back banged on the door shouting "freeloaders - get yourself on the campsite and support the local economy", ran to her car and sped off! Shame is we had spent £30 in the local indian restaurant the night before


----------



## vindiboy (Dec 22, 2015)

We were told to move after one night at San Pedro nr. Marbella early this year by the local Police, very polite they were, they parked behind us for about an hour and at 6 pm they knocked our door and asked us to go, there were 2 other vans there at the time, so off we went and found Mijas Costa, Aire by chance and a great result that was.


----------



## vindiboy (Dec 22, 2015)

Moved  on from here

  San Pedro and drove to here Mijas 
 and stayed a week.


----------



## izwozral (Dec 22, 2015)

Only been asked to move once and that was after we were told it was ok to stay! It was at a Brunning and Price pub near Clitheroe, asked the duty manager if ok to stay the night, next morning another manager told us we shouldn't have stayed. I wrote to the CEO to clarify matters, his reply was that they don't allow overnight stays at any of their pubs. Pity, because Brunning pubs tend to be very nice places to eat and drink.
Used to overnight regularly in the lower car park in Hawes, now they have painted the one area my mh would fit without fear of getting knocked, with a bay for motorcycles. Drat!
I always ask if it is at a pub or ask a local if there is likely to be a problem if I stayed for ONE night, usually a smile and a chat goes a long way.
We have found Scotland the most accessible place in GB for wilding.


----------



## John H (Dec 22, 2015)

Bazbro said:


> "False imprisonment" is a Common Law offence and as such not rescinded nor overruled by statute.



There are lots of misconceptions about common law. Some see it as fixed and somehow handed down from on high (in an almost religious way) but the reality is that it has developed and changed over time. When considering any charge brought before them, the courts must first look to see if there is a statute that relates to the case; if there is then they are bound by that statute. If there is not, then they must look to common law, which is established by precedence and must be applied until such time as a higher court re-interprets or until a statute is passed by Parliament.  Thus there is no element of our law that cannot be changed.


----------



## Deleted member 775 (Dec 22, 2015)

271 said:


> Good luck with that one.



think you will find only a police officer can detain a member of the public on suspicion of an criminal offence ,even the so called police comunity support officers dont have the power of arrest i beleve   ps a special constable has those powers though ,and i doubt if any police officer is going to give two hoots if your parked up where you shouldent be even if you have had a pint or two .anyway parking offences are no longer a police officers concern . its down to the local authority to enforce parking regulations and at midnight in a layby or on a no parking  zone ,double yellow lines or whatever they aint going to be arround ,in all the years we have wild camped which has been about 50 years (yep we pitched a tent on scalby mills cliffs and stayed there for a week once) with tents cars and vans even caravans we have never been asked by anybody to move .


----------



## jake (Dec 22, 2015)

vindiboy said:


> Moved  on from here
> View attachment 36152View attachment 36153  San Pedro and drove to here Mijas
> View attachment 36154View attachment 36155 and stayed a week.



excellent result alround !!


----------



## Morphology (Dec 22, 2015)

RSPB Reserve, Northward Hill, Kent. Parked up for the night. Bang on the door at 7-ish PM, young lad (intern) who said "you can't park here overnight". I explained that I was very sorry, but that there were no notices to the contrary and I was hoping to get out onto the reserve at daybreak to do some photography (possibly true, I've got a camera). He said "well, that's fine then, we're only concerned that you'll be locked in as we lock the gate at the end of the track, so you won't be able to get out until after 08:30. Next time could you let the wardens know at the residential centre over there?".

Nice, peaceful, night ensued.

Morph.


----------



## yorkieowl (Dec 23, 2015)

mandrake said:


> (yep we pitched a tent on scalby mills cliffs and stayed there for a week once) with tents cars and vans even caravans we have never been asked by anybody to move .



Scalby Mills isn't that where Colleys Holiday Camp was right on the cliff tops?  We went there for a week in the year we got married, got some bowls for the kitchen which I finally got rid of last year after 35 years use :hammer: was a real pit of a place, but we had a few good holidays there for a year or two, housing there now I think.


----------



## Deleted member 775 (Dec 23, 2015)

yorkieowl said:


> Scalby Mills isn't that where Colleys Holiday Camp was right on the cliff tops?  We went there for a week in the year we got married, got some bowls for the kitchen which I finally got rid of last year after 35 years use :hammer: was a real pit of a place, but we had a few good holidays there for a year or two, housing there now I think.



we piched up above the pub ,i cannot think of its name just off the pathway walk that goes over the cliffs .was an old scout tent that we borrowed from an uncle ,mind you that was back in 1972 just after we had got married . we had an old primus stove to cook on . no sleeping bags but plenty of blankets .and i also remeber sleeping in an old austin maxi back in the 80s on the marine drive on weekends .


----------

