Looking for some newbie advice here. We have purchased our first tourer and plan to park it outside in the street until we find suitable storage. The question is (and it may well be a daft one, but hey, we are new to this) but can the van be securely left on an incline? I don't know the gradient would estimate it to be about 1:10.
Also, if anyone knows of storage on the north side of Glasgow then this would be appreciated. Thanks.
Previous posts regarding storage here might be of use.
------------- XVI yes?
As well is two words!
How does a sage know everything about everything? or does he? or does he just think he does?
Remember, if you buy something you bought it, not brought it.
Parking should be ok I suppose, but chocks under the wheels would be a must. It is a lot steeper than I would like for my van, but needs must. How are the youngsters in the area? Are they likely to remove the chocks for a bit of fun?
If you want to park your caravan on a road then it would be best to contact your Local Highway Authority to ascertain its view on such use. Generally, caravans are not allowed to be parked on the Highway under section 103 of The Construction and Use Regulations Act 1989 where they are deemed to be an obstruction. They are usually considered to be just that and the Council can order to remove it or if you fail then they will shift it
Next, talk to your insurers as you may find that your caravan insurance does not cover the car being left on the road for an extended period of time.
The caravan must be lit at night if it is parked on a road where the speed limit exceeds 30mph, and comply with the other normal parking requirements e,gthe nearside must face the pavement so the rear lights are at the rear for approaching traffic. How are you going to keep the lights on if required? You cannot trail cables over the footpaths from your house to connect up the electrics on your van in order to get the lights on, even if you can get them to operate off the 230V supply.
You can more or less guarantee that someone will complain to the powers that be about a caravan on the road. That’s life
As the incline is a 1 in 10 you may find a problem unhitching and hitching your van due to the incline of the van to the tow ball. Generally a hitch can move forward and upward to unhitch and it probably won’t be able to that with the van, behind the car, with car facing up the hill. Turn your car and van round and when unhitching the van will just run into the back of your car!!
Not a very good idea really
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
Quote: Originally posted by shahsman on 26/3/2012
Looking for some newbie advice here. We have purchased our first tourer and plan to park it outside in the street until we find suitable storage. The question is (and it may well be a daft one, but hey, we are new to this) but can the van be securely left on an incline? I don't know the gradient would estimate it to be about 1:10.
Also, if anyone knows of storage on the north side of Glasgow then this would be appreciated. Thanks.
Parking on the incline would be no problem for the caravan if it is pointing front to the downhill just put the brake on nd it will hold, if it oes not then the brakes need adjusting. However, there are lots of toerags about who might fancy seeing a van olling downhill on its own so chocks placed under the wheels and the wheels allowed to move forward onto the chocks would be necessary. If the rear is pointing downhill it is unlikely that the brakes would hold it as the auto reverse braking system would come into operation and thevan would probably decide to go for a walk on its wn.
------------- Bill
For a licence dated 1997 or later you must add together the plated max weight of the caravan and trailer, if the total is 3500 or less you can tow it. You may even tow a caravan with a MAM greater than the cars unladen mass the restriction was removed in 2013
This is our last van which we parked on our drive with a mover.
Our new van doesn't have a mover but the other drive is wider and not as steep.
The problem we have now is the combination of different gradients. I can reverse it back so far then the back end grounds. Before this happens I unhitch and turn the car around and use the front pushbar. The towball on this is mounted much lower and raises the rear end enough to get it down the drive.
There is no problem with the actual parking on an incline as long as the van is chocked properly. I don't know about the legal aspects of parking on the road though.
If the Local Authority do consider that an obstruction has been created e.g no lights and no where near a street light so it may be obscured at night, it will usually monitor the van for around a fortnight. Then they will issue a notice to the OP to remove it within 14 days. If it is not moved then there is usually a seven day period given after which the Council will move the van and store it until all of its costs and storage charges have been paid. When that happens the OP then arranges to pay those costs when he is ready to go on holiday and, perhaps, the Council’s costs and storage charges are lower than any local commercial storage depot.
Till then just hope that no one takes the brake off.
If you have a winterhoff hitch it won't unhitch anyway if the car is facing uphill, so the car can hold the van on the incline
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
Thank you all very much for your responses. I hadn't even thought about the practicalities of hitching/unhitching at all so this post has certainly been worthwhile. Looks like I may have to ask the current siteowner to let me leave it there until I've fixed some suitable storage up. BTW, is caravan insurance a legal requirement?
Thanks.
No Insurance is not a legal requirement just a sensible one....it may get stolen or damaged or it may hit someone...mind you the latter will probably only happen when you are towing and your car insurance will deal with that. Then there are your contents to insure....unless your house insurance covers everything...which it probably won't.
Having spent your hard earned on a van its best to have it covered just in case.
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
Thanks Phil. The van wasn't particularly expensive, though I'm certainly not in a financial comfort zone where I could simply purchase another one. I'll look into insuring it once I have a storage site - I would imagine the premium would be less than if it were permanently parked in the street. I was more concerned about the legalities around towing it from its current location to, well, who knows at the moment!
Most storage sites include a condition in their contracts that require you to have insurance so that if anything happens to your van you sort it out through your insurers rather than theirs.
You can't permanently park your van in a street. Eventually the Council will be asking you to move it. Then there are the naughty boys and girls who will have easy access to your van......
As for legalities for towing, I hope your tow car has the right kerb wight for towing the van and that your licence is Ok for whatever the weight of the van is if you passed your test after 1997.
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
Hi Phil. Did the homework on the towing weight etc. before narrowing down the van search and am comfortably within the max. The street parking was very much a last resort if we can't find storage - have a little darling neighbour who takes pleasure in scratching any car I've owned so really would fear the worst for the van.
I may have found some storage within 5-10 miles so fingers crossed that there's space when I contact them tomorrow.
Thanks again.
Hope it works out and enjoy the van and the experience.
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
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Parking on an incline
