Poor Whitby a ghost town

Fisherman said:
I once drove off with an advertising sheet on my windscreen but low down on passenger side. I never noticed it until I was on the M8 heading for Glasgow. It was a distraction and don’t think this should be allowed. But this only serves to show how some think of us, and when people are spoon fed rubbish in their newspapers and elsewhere in the media, who can blame them. If I was not part of our fraternity, I may well think likewise.
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It's long been said that you only need 3.5% of a population to actively protest to change policy. The silent majority either don't care about the issue or disagree with the activists but keep their mouths shut from fear of ridicule (at best) or even, as has happened more and more recently, having their lives destroyed. There is an issue here in that spoon-feeding the local populace with rubbish and backing it up with false claims (such as 2 complaints are a thousand, 75 out of 10,000 are 97%, etc.) actually works. So while the vast majority of residents of Whitby and Scarborough probably either welcome our visits or are at worst neutral, the anti-motorhome activists appear to be winning -- probably in part because at least one of them is a councillor...
 
GeoffL said:
It's long been said that you only need 3.5% of a population to actively protest to change policy. The silent majority either don't care about the issue or disagree with the activists but keep their mouths shut from fear of ridicule (at best) or even, as has happened more and more recently, having their lives destroyed. There is an issue here in that spoon-feeding the local populace with rubbish and backing it up with false claims (such as 2 complaints are a thousand, 75 out of 10,000 are 97%, etc.) actually works. So while the vast majority of residents of Whitby and Scarborough probably either welcome our visits or are at worst neutral, the anti-motorhome activists appear to be winning -- probably in part because at least one of them is a councillor...
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And sadly also with acceptance by us also Geoff. The same applies to us, the majority of our fraternity see such situations as a fait accompli, and sadly to some extent they have a point. :(
 
Having read most of this thread it seems it’s not that we are not welcome as motorhome owners that we are taking the decision to not darken the doorsteps of these towns again but the fact that we cannot pitch up our vans on a prime seafront location and stay for days sometimes weeks on end, there is plenty of daytime parking in both Whitby and Scarborough you just cannot stay overnight and a lot of that is to do with the behaviour of a certain type of motorhomer.
I visit both places often and never have a problem parking up and then I leave before the banned time and overnight elsewhere that’s the beauty of having a motorhome and it’s no hardship to drive a couple of miles to park for the night.
 
Appreciate what you're saying Annie, & I agree with you about people who want to park up on the seafront for days at a time, but that surely doesn't mean we should be banned from carparks too. That's what they're for, parking in. Would make sense to ban mohos from the seafront, fully behind that idea, but I still don't see why we need to be banned from parking in carparks. I would even agree that anyone who sets up camp in carparks, or stays for days on end should be moved on, but where's the harm in parking overnight in a single bay in a carpark? As long as no chairs etc are deployed, & you are respectful of your surroundings & even pay the parking charge, I don't see why we are treated as lepers....
 
GreggBear said:
Appreciate what you're saying Annie, & I agree with you about people who want to park up on the seafront for days at a time, but that surely doesn't mean we should be banned from carparks too. That's what they're for, parking in. Would make sense to ban mohos from the seafront, fully behind that idea, but I still don't see why we need to be banned from parking in carparks. I would even agree that anyone who sets up camp in carparks, or stays for days on end should be moved on, but where's the harm in parking overnight in a single bay in a carpark? As long as no chairs etc are deployed, & you are respectful of your surroundings & even pay the parking charge, I don't see why we are treated as lepers....
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Yes I agree, also I don’t reckon spending the day somewhere, spending money in their local shops, then having to move somewhere for the night were you probably will spend nothing is best. From what I saw on my visit, Whitby had plenty of empty car parking spaces during the day. As for those who reckon spending days there is ok, why not restrict parking to one or two nights, within stiff penalties for those who breech this condition.
 
GreggBear said:
Appreciate what you're saying Annie, & I agree with you about people who want to park up on the seafront for days at a time, but that surely doesn't mean we should be banned from carparks too. That's what they're for, parking in. Would make sense to ban mohos from the seafront, fully behind that idea, but I still don't see why we need to be banned from parking in carparks. I would even agree that anyone who sets up camp in carparks, or stays for days on end should be moved on, but where's the harm in parking overnight in a single bay in a carpark? As long as no chairs etc are deployed, & you are respectful of your surroundings & even pay the parking charge, I don't see why we are treated as lepers....
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The problem is some will always bend the rules look at sea life centre Scarborough for years you have been allowed to park overnight with an unwritten agreement that you left through the day so their customers could park and it was great for years then the don’t give a £$%^ element took over with tables chairs and bbqs out blocking the promenade and staying for days and days until eventually the sea life centre and council said enough is enough. The minute a council gives the ok to stay overnight a certain type take over and abuse it I don’t know what the answer is but I will continue to go to the east coast park up during the day and move off at night.
 
The problem that I see is that a small minority will just do whatever suits them and will park up in one place for possibly weeks. This inevitably will cause resentment in some local residents, wether it be in an urban or rural location and in turn this leads to bans for all. I only wish that rather than blanket bans a time limit for stays could be enforced, backed by sensible penalties for those breaking such limits. Unfortunately this rarely if ever seems to happen l
 
campervanannie said:
Having read most of this thread it seems it’s not that we are not welcome as motorhome owners that we are taking the decision to not darken the doorsteps of these towns again but the fact that we cannot pitch up our vans on a prime seafront location and stay for days sometimes weeks on end, there is plenty of daytime parking in both Whitby and Scarborough you just cannot stay overnight and a lot of that is to do with the behaviour of a certain type of motorhomer.
I visit both places often and never have a problem parking up and then I leave before the banned time and overnight elsewhere that’s the beauty of having a motorhome and it’s no hardship to drive a couple of miles to park for the night.
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What if you are steaming ?
 
2cv said:
And The problem that I see is that a small minority will just do whatever suits them and will park up in one place for possibly weeks. This inevitably will cause resentment in some local residents, wether it be in an urban or rural location and in turn this leads to bans for all. I only wish that rather than blanket bans a time limit for stays could be enforced, backed by sensible penalties for those breaking such limits. Unfortunately this rarely if ever seems to happen l
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Whilst that works for the mh comunity. All that would happen is one van just replacing another van as one pulls out and the general public would see no difference, just a place still full of vans. Nothing alters until you have an abundance of parking and the vans get diluted over numerous spots. Then you would have the stupid herding factor to contend with.
 
We here this all the time there are selfish idiots amongst us, but they are a minority, and they can and should be dealt with. What about CCTV, most car parks in towns and city’s already have CCTV. The way I see this is really straightforward. You limit the amount of vans that can spend the night, and where they can spend the night. You limit the length of stay. And if anyone breeches these rules you hammer them with large fines. I can see such enforcement’s being difficult in more rural locations, but not in places like Whitby. Why should decent people be punished for the actions of a few.
None of this is difficult in todays world if you really want to offer parking for a limited amount of vans, for a limited time. But they can and are used as reasons for carte Blanche bans by people who simply don’t want us there in the first place.
 
Fisherman said:
We here this all the time there are selfish idiots amongst us, but they are a minority, and they can and should be dealt with. What about CCTV, most car parks in towns and city’s already have CCTV. The way I see this is really straightforward. You limit the amount of vans that can spend the night, and where they can spend the night. You limit the length of stay. And if anyone breeches these rules you hammer them with large fines. I can see such enforcement’s being difficult in more rural locations, but not in places like Whitby. Why should decent people be punished for the actions of a few.
None of this is difficult in todays world if you really want to offer parking for a limited amount of vans, for a limited time. But they can and are used as reasons for carte Blanche bans by people who simply don’t want us there in the first place.
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At st Annes they limit the vans and time that you can stay I think it’s 8/10 vans there have been complaints that some nights throughout the summer there has been up to 30+ vans and staying longer than the allotted time and the regular visitors know what time the TW comes round so I suspect a lot don’t bother paying and leave before he tips up.
 
campervanannie said:
At st Annes they limit the vans and time that you can stay I think it’s 8/10 vans there have been complaints that some nights throughout the summer there has been up to 30+ vans and staying longer than the allotted time and the regular visitors know what time the TW comes round so I suspect a lot don’t bother paying and leave before he tips up.
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Well Annie, fine them, and fine them heavily.
Obviously a TRO would have to be put in place, and the required personal to facilitate such penalties being handed out. I would love to see these people being fined three figure sums for breaching reasonable well laid out requirements. I witnessed such behaviour up here also this year in Elie. But sadly Fife Council have no TRO in place. We really need to start punishing people who behave like pratts, and welcoming the better behaved with open arms. I have always been a firm believer in stick and carrot Annie.
 
alcam said:
My point being I , and I'm sure many others , like to visit restaurants and pubs when staying somewhere . Moving off in the evening makes that impossible
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You know this makes perfect logical sense.
The current situation in many places throughout the U.K. is counterproductive in terms of helping local economies. You are in effect being prevented from enjoying a nice meal in a local establishment with a glass of two of your favourite tipple, thus helping the local economy. And in the case of Scotland with much lower drink driving limits this has even more credence. As I said before welcome those who wish to abide by reasonable well laid out rules, and hammer those who think that carparks are just free campsites.
 
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