I’ve posted this before, but again for your benefit Gregor. If those who resort to prejudice and lazily blame all motorhomers for the transgressions of day trippers and hirers actually spent the time making careful observations they would probably be better informed…
(Extract from a letter to a Councillor who had received complaints about litter in a car park heavily used by cars but rarely by motorhomes, someone had seen a motorhome there: this led to all motorhomes being banned)
A subject that probably annoys responsible motorhome owners more than locals...LITTER. Whoever wants to spend a night in a carpark that is full of litter...for a night it’s our garden. Many motorhomers, including myself often clear up other people’s litter from carparks where we stay, in fact we have a groups called the Motorhome Wombles, and Motorhomes and Campervans Against Litter.
Nearly all the litter comes from people in the far more numerous cars. Yet strangely no-one bans cars from car parks. Sadly people are so prejudiced, they see a motorhome in a car park, they see rubbish and bingo they conflate the two and come over self-righteous. People in cars unlike motorhomers have nowhere to store their rubbish. Many simply don’t care, and others use absence of a bin as an excuse to throw rubbish out of the window. We have our own bags and bins that we can empty when we find a proper place.
Two recent experiences.
Small viewpoint car park near Earby, Lancs.
Arrive before lunch, clear up a considerable amount of litter including things like cans, wrappers, packaging for a new iPhone and glue sniffers bong (or something worse). Several cars arrive for the view and lunch, no one gets out yet when they go there’s a new collection of fast food containers, sandwich wrappers and cans...yet the carpark has two bins! Clear it up again. Go for a walk, come back, it’s full of rubbish again...we were the only van there all day, and I knew that if any local saw rubbish we would be the ones getting the blame.
Taf Fechan Forest car park, Brecons. Clean when we arrived. Busy August weekend. 3 motorhomes there, us, a German couple and some East Europeans, nothing put outside, no rubbish deposited. Many dozens of cars came and left. Litter and bags of picnic waste dumped everywhere. Romanians with tents on the verge. People lighting fires (in a Forest!!!) one of which I had to later to put out. Disposable barbeques, which people abandoned without extinguishing. People disappearing into the woods with camping equipment. I had to have sharp words with a couple who planned ‘leaving their tent for others’. Sunday afternoon quiet again, just about to get out the litter-picker when a young guy and his son get out a bin bag and start to clear up the mess. Congratulating him I discover he’s Russian “in Russia we always clear up everybody’s mess after a weekend in the forest...it’s traditional”...we could learn something from the Russians after all!
Powys is very welcoming but if this continues, who do you think will be banned...cars? Of course there are bad eggs in every basket, but you know the saying...find a crime, search for the guilty, punish the innocent...it’s easier that way. It’s so infuriating...especially to find the same happening in my own neck of the woods.
Some car park owners who let motorhomes stay overnight say they appreciate having us there because they have less vandalism and bad behaviour when there’s eyes there to see what’s going on.
Litterers should be dealt with as litterers who ever they are, there are ample laws for this. Defining and punishing groups according to the transgressions of a minority has in law been illegal since the 19th Century. Try banning all cars from roads because a few speed and imagine the reaction you would get!