I would recommend Taunton Deane Services, we always stop there when heading to Devon or Cornwall as it doubles up as a good place to hang around if your on an early morning start and not likely to be able to site yourself before midday.
Find Sedgemoor a bit cramped the last we pulled in there.
what if you have an accident and the authorities need to remove the caravan for safetey... with the hitch lock on they wont be able to! Be a little difficult to nick the van whils in motion also!
I would never leave the van unattended at services. We always take it in turns to go to the loo. Especially be careful on M42, M1, M6, M6 Toll, M5 in the Midlands. Because of the easy access to many different directions, I always feel we seem to have vans go missing. It's not called the Caravan Bermuda Triangle for nothing.
I thought that the spring assembly in the anti-sway hitches was that they were designed to pop off the ball in the event of the caravan overturning, so as not to overturn the towing vehicle also.
A hitch lock would therefore prevent this from happening.
It is not "strictly" illegal to travel with the hitch lock on, that is to say there is no law which directly states that it is illegal. However, travelling without the lock is commonly recommended for the very reason highlighted by Missizippi. If the caravan is to overturn then it will also turn the car if you have the lock on. So you potentially put yourself and your tug at greater risk if there is an accident.
Then you have your insurance company to deal with. The accident may not be your fault, but the overturning of the car will be the result of a combination of the accident and your deliberate act of fixing the hitch lock on. e.g If someone hits the caravan, or with high winds and lorries on top of the M62, it flips it will pop off the hitch and the car may not be damaged. If the hitch lock is on the car will be damaged. A fine dividing line then as to whether the damage to your car was accidental (which the Insurance company pays for) or otherwise (which it may seek to avoid any liability for). If your passenger wishes to sue for damages and the insurers challenge their liability (in this example) you may also not be insured for that claim.
Check your insurance policy and you will find a standard condition that you have to comply with which usually reads...."You or any person in charge of your car must take reasonable precautions to protect your car from damage or loss"...There is your insurers "get of jail" card. So, if you are travelling without insurance, that is illegal. So, you can end up "illegal" by a roundabout route.
A hitch lock is there to prevent, as far as possible, the theft of the caravan, it is not a driving aid. No one is going to unhitch the van whilst in motion so there is no reason for the hitch lock to be in place. I think it may be advisable, Slow Laner, to reconsider its use whilst travelling.
Phil
------------- If you're not on a fell your wasting your feet and for 2014 it's.......Feb Castleton Mar North Yors Moors; Apr Sutton on Sea; May Thirsk; Jun Clapham/Riverside (Lakes); July Wharfedale; August Crakehall; Sept Knaresborough; Oct Wirral Park/Clitheroe
I enjoy watching caravanners take a break in the services. They all get on here spouting their heirs & graces then I see them pull up, ptrepare a meal, wash up & let the waste water run down the lorry park. While she's doing the washing up, he walked the dog & never cleaned up behind it.
That's nothing to what the truck drivers often leave...
But you're right - it's wrong to leave any mess [although I realise most of your post is a wind-up].
Quote: Originally posted by Slow Laner on 17/8/2010
We bought a pump pot from Argos and use that in the caravan to make drinks how we like them. Take our own snack with us in the cooler usually home made egg and bacon pie and stand outside (if fine weather) and eat/drink standing up to get the circulation back into the old legs . Hitch lock is ALWAYSput ON for travelling anyway. We never go into the services, don't care for the food or the over priced tepid drinks you get.
Eat, drink and off we go again with holiday money still in the wallet
wow thanks for the link looks fab .....going to get myself one of those
ps just looked up egg and bacon pie ....brought back loads of happy memories coz my mum used to make it when we went on holiday in the caravan .....motorway pie she called it ....it was fab shall give her a ring tommorw for the recipe yum
4 weeks ago we stopped there on the way to Cornwall we parked on the outside edge of the caravan/lorry park in the nearest parking lane to the grassy bank on the side away from the motorway, as we are still relative novices at towing my husband always walks around the van when we stop and before setting off as we parked everything was as it should be. Since it was a warm sunny day (rare I know) and the carpark was particuarly full of exhaust fumes we chose to sit in the shade on the grass opposite the caravan.The caravan was directly in our view about 100 feet away.
As we sat on the bank I noticed a man walk down by the side of our caravan with the caravan between us and him, he appeared to be heading towards the services building. He vanished as he went along the side of our caravan due to the height of the van but didn't appear at the other end. Odd I thought perhaps he has turned off toward the coach on the otherside of the carpark, I mentioned this to my husband and we decided to go back to the van. To our horror we found the wheel hub cap had been unscrewed and taken and the water pump flap was open but fortunately the pump is screwed in and not easy to remove. Now although our van is 20 years old it was only brought by us last year so that we could try caravanning and the dealer had put some nice new hub caps on which made the van look very smart.
So although our caravan was in full view with the hitch lock on we still managed to have our new hub cap stolen and if anything else had been accessable I'm sure that would have gone too. In future we will be sitting either in the van or in the car at services.
The debate of having a hitchlock on while travelling has been discussed in length on here before, it's one of those subjects that has a lot of for's and against. As Phil say's there is no law to say you have to have it fitted while travelling, it's up to personal choice, they are designed to be able to have fitted while travelling but you dont have to. A hitch is not designed to pop off in the event of an accident all the hitchlock does is prevent someone lifting the release lever. In today's age with villians being more daring I'm wondering how long will it be before they whip off your caravan when you pull up at traffic lights ?
We never leave the van unattended when we have "rest" stops either. I always take a flask of coffee, water and coolbag with food/snacks in. We take it in turn to go into the services and walk the dog, have our meal by the van. This is ok at motorway services but more of a problem on A roads. You're wary of pulling into a garage you dont know with a caravan on the back in case you cant get out again (you only do this once, by the way!!) So its usually a layby on those occasions. Having spent six hours getting back from Norfolk yesterday we did need a couple of stops on the way!
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Topic: Motorway service stations
. Hitch lock is ALWAYS put ON for travelling anyway. We never go into the services, don't care for the food or the over priced tepid drinks you get.
and the water pump flap was open but fortunately the pump is screwed in and not easy to remove. Now although our van is 20 years old it was only brought by us last year so that we could try caravanning and the dealer had put some nice new hub caps on which made the van look very smart.
