Motorhome Parking at Motorway Service Areas.

A couple of words of warning.
Before you leave your vehicle check the notices in the car park to see what restrictions on parking are displayed - for example, time limits, parking within bays (including any ban on overhangs).
Remember that when you park in a private car park (such as those owned by MSA operators) you are entering into a contract based on the conditions displayed and failure to comply with the conditions renders you liable to a charge for breach of contract (to which you have agreed by parking).
Some MSA operators are now installing CCTV cameras, which use Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), in their carparks to identify vehicles that stay for more than a set time and then issue bills for staying too long.

In March 2009 a user of this web site reported that a motorhome had been clamped because the driver parked it in the wrong place at a MSA. Requests for information regarding parking of motorhomes at MSAs were subsequently sent to the Highways Agency and to the four major MSA operators. Details of the requests and responses received follow.

The following information request was sent to the Highways Agency on 22 March 2009:

Background
My wife and I bought our motorhome in June 2006 and subsequently encountered daytime parking difficulties in some towns. As a consequence, since the latter half of 2006 I have built a web site - www.motorhomeparking.co.uk - which has two aims:
1. To direct motorhome drivers to places where it is safe and legal for them to park.
2. To direct motorhome drivers away from areas where they might encounter difficulties or cause difficulties for others.
The web site is a completely non-commercial project, maintained and funded by myself.
Most of the information on the site has come from contacting all UK local authorities responsible for off-street parking to request information regarding parking for motorhomes. Other information has come from personal observation and messages from users of the web site.
I have recently seen stories of motorhome users being clamped and/or suffering charges for parking in the wrong place in motorway service areas. Whilst this has not happened to us, we have experienced difficulty from time to time in knowing exactly where to park when taking a rest break at a MSA. I am somewhat mystified that MSA operators are allowed to clamp vehicles (or impose other charges) as I understood that one of the minimum requirements which Motorway Service Area operators must provide was free short term parking for all types of vehicle.
Information Request
1) Do all MSAs provide at least the required minimum number of parking spaces for motorhomes/caravans?
2) Where an MSA does not provide at least that required minimum, what legal powers does the operator have to clamp vehicles and/or impose charges on motorhome drivers for parking outside of a designated motorhome/caravan space?
3) Where an MSA does provide at least that required minimum, what legal powers does the operator have to clamp vehicles and/or impose charges on motorhome drivers for parking outside of a designated motorhome/caravan space?

The Highways Agency responded promptly on 23rd March 2009 as follows:

The Motorway Service Areas (MSA) in England are all privately run by commercial companies operating under licences and agreements entered with the Highways Agency ("the Agency"), which acts on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport in such matters.
The requirements for the number of parking spaces by type of vehicle at motorway service areas (MSA) are set out in Annex B of the attached policy document (Department for Transport Circular 01/2008) - here. However, it should be noted that those standards are not legally binding and the actual levels of provision will be set out in the specific agreement drawn up between the operator and the Highways Agency. I am not aware of any case where we have agreed to reduce numbers and, usually, they are at or slightly above the policy figures.
More importantly though, the government has no powers to force a re-negotiation of the agreements. Consequently, our current policy, which was published in April 2008, is not retrospective. It only applies to new sites.
Pre-existing sites are only subject to the requirements of the policy, including those relating to parking provision, that applied at the time that they were built and, unfortunately, previous policies published in 1988 and 1994 were less detailed and less onerous in their requirements. Specifically, neither document imposed any requirement for dedicated parking spaces for caravans or motorhomes.
All of the Motorway Service Areas currently provide the number of parking spaces by type of vehicle that they are required to under their specific agreement with the Agency. Some sites do make dedicated provision for caravans and motorhomes despite there being no such obligation written into their agreements.
Even where such dedicated provision has not been made, there has been a long-standing policy requirement that MSAs provide free parking for up to two hours for all types of vehicle. Therefore, in the absence of dedicated bays for caravans and motorhomes, arrangements should be in place for the use by such vehicles of any available spaces within one of the other parking areas (for cars, coaches or lorries).
The operators have the right to charge for parking beyond that two hour period and to take enforcement action against drivers who do not pay. However, the charges and the consequences for overstaying the free period without payment must be clearly displayed. These can include clamping of vehicles and parking fines.
Regardless of type, where vehicles are parked outside of the areas designated for their use, the operators may choose to take enforcement action. There is no right to use another area if those spaces are full.

On 10th April 2009, requests for information were sent to the four major motorway services operators as detailed below. Responses received follow.

My wife and I bought our motorhome in June 2006 and subsequently encountered daytime parking difficulties in some towns/cities. As a consequence, since the latter half of 2006 I have built a web site - www.motorhomeparking.co.uk - which has two aims:
1. To direct motorhome drivers to places where it is safe and legal for them to park.
2. To direct motorhome drivers away from areas where they might encounter difficulties or cause difficulties for others.
The web site is a completely non-commercial project, maintained and funded by myself.
Most of the information on the site has come from contacting all UK local authorities responsible for off-street parking to request information regarding parking for motorhomes. Other information has come from personal observation and messages from users of the web site.
As far as towns/cities are concerned the emphasis is mainly on daytime parking for tourism/leisure purposes. In regard to MSAs my main concern is road safety and the ability of motorhome drivers to park up for a rest break in order to avoid the tiredness which can lead to accidents.
I have recently seen stories of motorhome users being clamped and/or suffering charges for parking in the wrong place in motorway service areas. Our own motorhome is only about 18 feet long so it is normally possible for us to park with all four wheels within the lines of a car bay (albeit with some overhang) but we have experienced difficulty from time to time in knowing exactly where to park when taking a rest break at a MSA. Obviously the size of motorhomes varies considerably, from those based on vehicles like the Citroen Berlingo to American monsters the size of coaches - so it can be more difficult for some drivers than others.
I should like to provide information on my web site to assist motorhome owners in parking appropriately at MSAs, both for their benefit and for the benefit of operators and other users by virtue of avoiding the risk of misunderstanding and confrontation. It would, therefore, be extremely helpful if you could answer the following questions for each of the sites which your company operates:
1) How many (if any) parking spaces are reserved for motorhomes?
2) If all designated motorhome spaces are occupied what alternative area should motorhome drivers use?
3) Where there are no designated motorhome spaces what alternative area should motorhome drivers use?

Extra

The following response was received on 22 May 2009:

Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to your email. I have spoken to our Operations Manager about motorhomes. We do not provide specific spaces for motorhomes, but we do have spaces allocated for cars with caravans and would suggest that you use these. In the event that these are full, you can park in the HGV parking area. The only sites which do not have caravan spaces are Leicester and Derby as these are not motorway sites but trunk road services.
Parking at our sites is free for the first two hours and £20 thereafter for maximum 24 hours in the car park area and £15 in the HGV area.

Moto

The following response was received on 22 April 2009:

Thank you for your recent correspondence. In response to your enquiry please see comments below:
1) There are no specific spaces reserved for motor homes. At some sites we have designated bays for use by caravans only and it would be acceptable for motor homes to use this allocation of space.
2) If designated parking spaces are fully occupied or there are no designated bays on car parks then we would advise the driver to use the normal car park, provided that if there were any overhang it did not obstruct entry and egress to the car park or cause any obstruction to the routes around the car parks. It would be acceptable for vehicles that were oversize i.e. length wise to use 2 bays to accommodate the length.
3) Where car parks are small and access is not possible due to size or available spaces then we have no problem with drivers using the main HGV Park. Drivers would have to be aware that the area is a working environment 24/7 and persons would have to take care when moving about on foot, children should be chaperoned at all times and we would not accept any liability and it would be at own risk. Because of the types of loads using the park i.e. highly Inflammable liquids or gases they would not be allowed to use cooking facilities in the lorry park for fear of explosion or fires.
4) Just for information drivers are entitled to 2 hours free parking and under no circumstances should motor homes or caravans be parked in restricted areas, coach bays or disabled bays without a badge and if they have a badge they must not cause obstruction or danger to other users of the park.

Users of this web site have provided the following information:
Here is a photo of a sign for a parking management company called RingGo.co.uk who are responsible for all Moto service areas, amongst others. We had to dial their number when parking overnight at Medway West services on the M2 in Kent after we arrived too late to get into the Canterbury Dover Road Parking area (barrier shuts at 10pm). Once you've paid the fee to them they set up an account for future use. I thought it worth passing on the info regarding overnight stops at Moto service areas, as it seems you can only pay the fee by phone with a credit or debit card. It was £8 for the night in this instance, which is not too bad when compared to the charges for Aires abroad, but clearly somewhat more than Canterbury's £2.50. (Thanks to D for providing this information on 28 May 2009).

Road Chef

The information request was sent to Road Chef again on 21st May 2009. On 4th June the company replied "Thank you for your email. We are looking into your query and will reply to shortly with detail in due course. Thank you for your patience in this matter." A full response to the request is still awaited.

Welcome Break

The information request was sent to Welcome Break again on 21st May 2009. A response to the request is still awaited.

Return to Motorhome Friendly and Unfriendly Parking home page.

Last updated: 7 July 2009