I got lucky, as one caravan pulled out I pulled in. Cambridge services on the A14 north bound was queuing back onto the roundabout to get parked. At least three of the caravan bays were taken by cars. This was my very 1st trip out for the weekend with Winnie the Troll and my 1st experience of a busy services with a caravan in tow.

I'm sat here a few weeks on thinking of what if I couldn't have got parked because of the cars taking the bays? What is the etiquette?
Do I grumble and move on to the next services or do I say something to the car drivers parked in the bay? I'm not even entertaining the thought of having to park in the HGV park between two 40 ton artics, the air stinking of urine.

I guess I'm asking, do we have to grin and bear it if the bays are full or is the best solution to avoid service stations all together?

Seems to be a common problem. We've got used to being second class citizens at services in the U.K.
Unfortunately the HGV area is often all that is available.

you need a blue badge with a child seat in the back and you can park anywhere

Hi Bryn, You may have my blue badge, if you take my disability with it.

Dont take it personal, I quite agree, but there is so much abuse of the badges that genuine people who need the blue badges still have trouble finding bays, the latest sign we have here are bays for pregnant women????

I could have done with one of those when expecting our third sprog. Nipped into Tesco (other supermarkets are available) before picking up the two older children from school. Parked nicely between the white lines and trotted off to do a bit of shopping. Came back to find the two new arrivals who had parked on either side of my car were so close I had no chance of getting either of the front doors open wide enough to insert my very pregnant body into the car. Wrote down the reg no of the car on the drivers side went into customer services and got an announcement over the tannoy requesting the owner of car ...... to return to his/her vehicle.

two weeks later our 10lb son was born - so I then knew why I was so huge!

Denise

Bryn, I do take it personally, when I am a blue badge user, and people like yourself, and others, seem to assume that it's some sort of eliteism, I do not make generalisations about others, You never know what you may be dealt with in life. An apology would have been more in keeping, than a deflection onto pregnant women.

Quote: SteveH wrote in post #1

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I guess I'm asking, do we have to grin and bear it if the bays are full or is the best solution to avoid service stations all together?

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Quote: Bryn wrote in post #5

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Dont take it personal, I quite agree, but there is so much abuse of the badges that genuine people who need the blue badges still have trouble finding bays, the latest sign we have here are bays for pregnant women????

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Cambridge services is a real lottery and we've found white van man seems to be the biggest problem in terms of taking up space but if you really want to become confused and stressed try parking at South Mimms service on the M25 - a nightmare.

We have used Cambridge a few times and have noticed that the car and Eriba only just fit into the caravan space. How do the big 4x4 and WWBs fit in?

Despite the owner franchises promising to cater for caravans the progress has been zero for years. The M6 south from Carlisle to Birmingham is atrocious. The new services at Gloucester on the M5 are brilliant with a secluded separate caravan area.

Stewart

Quote: Pepé Le Pew wrote in post #13

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Quote: Williebraveheart wrote in post #12

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The M6 south from Carlisle to Birmingham is atrocious.

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From almost every standpoint. The only vaguely nice bit is the stretch past Lancaster. From there down to the M5 split it's just pants. Utter pants.

Quote: Williebraveheart wrote in post #12

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The new services at Gloucester on the M5 are brilliant with a secluded separate caravan area.

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They're the ones where Agger lives.

He stays on the northbound side from Wednesday to Saturday and the southbound side for the rest of the week, and eats nothing but handmade Gloucester Old Spot sausages and the occasional family pet.

He's been there for a couple of years now, passing the time by watching the Gloucester Constabulary Traffic Division's Facebook feed, listening for the squeal of tyres and the crunch of metal and leaping out of the shrubbery unexpectedly to give passers-by the heebie-jeebies.

I've been up and down that bit of the M5 many times, and still haven't plucked up the courage to stop.

To be honest, I'd sooner risk wetting myself than go in there. He's a madman, I tell you.

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Naked but shiny!