Where Can You Park Your Motorhome?
Where Can You Park
Your Motorhome?
Owning a motorhome is a dream come true for many UK residents. The motorhome life is a life of freedom, at least to a certain extent. But with all freedoms come responsibilities. In the motorhome world, one of an owner's big responsibilities is to make sure they park in legal parking spots.
Where can you park your motorhome? That depends on how you use your vehicle. As a motorhome owner, you have to concern yourself with parking when you are not using it. You also have to consider where you're going to park during your travels. Thankfully, there is no shortage of options.
There aren't a lot of parking rules in the UK. You have to take the few rules we do have and attempt to apply them to your circumstances. This means you might not always get it right. To help you choose good parking locations more often than not, we have put together this quick guide.
Parking When Not in Use
We will start with parking your motorhome when not in use, given this is the easier of the two scenarios. You might consider parking your vehicle at home if you have a drive or garage large enough to accommodate it.
A garage is ideal because you can keep it out of sight. If you intend to park in the drive, be sure to check with your local authorities first. Some councils have strict regulations against parking motorhomes in drives. And even if your council does not, your neighbourhood might. Restrictive neighbourhood covenants are becoming more common as people purchase motorhomes in larger numbers.
You might also consider parking your motorhome in a secure storage area run by a private company. The Caravan and Motorhome Club can help you locate a secure storage area near you.
Parking Your Motorhome While Travelling
Now for the more tricky part: deciding where to park your motorhome while you travel. You more or less have three options:
and roadside
Publicly available campgrounds
Privately Owned Land
There are exceptions to this rule in Scotland, but they generally do not cover motorhomes. Therefore, it is best to get permission before parking on private land. That may be easier said than done. Just identifying a piece of land as privately owned can be difficult enough, let alone trying to locate its owner to get permission.
Parking on Public Land
Lay-bys and Car Parks
Having said that, some local councils and law enforcement agencies don't look too favourably on motorhome owners parking in lay-bys and car parks. They make a concerted effort to ask motorhome owners to move. If that happens to you, your best bet is to cooperate.
Parking Roadside
The Code regulates overnight parking based on a vehicle's size, unladen weight, and the desired parking location. There are also requirements for overnight lighting. As a general rule, it is not recommended that you park a motorhome roadside overnight. Being a larger vehicle, it creates unnecessary danger to other road users.
You absolutely cannot stop and park on a motorway hard shoulder overnight. When travelling along a motorway, pay attention to where lorries tend to park overnight. Find a similar spot and you're all set.
Finding a Parking Spot
Finding a good parking spot on your next journey may not be an easy task. We can recommend a couple of tips. At the top of the list is to plan as much as you can. For example, you might be taking a two-week trip with very defined parameters. You know what your destinations are at the end of each driving day.
With this sort of itinerary, it is easier to find overnight parking locations before you ever depart. You can contact owners of private car parks and ask permission to stop overnight on your way through. Business owners typically don't mind as long as you do not impair business. This might mean arriving late and leaving early, though.
On the other hand, you might be taking a trip for which there are very few plans. You are just going to drive and see where the roads take you. There are a number of mobile apps you can use to find overnight parking spots. One of them is known as park4night. They have apps for Android, iOS, and Windows. You can also just use their website. Park4night has been downloaded some 2 million times. It currently lists more than 186,000 free parking locations in dozens of countries throughout Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America.
You should now have a basic understanding of where to park your motorhome. Whatever you do, make sure you don't run afoul of the law and spoil your trip.
