# Canterbury



## 04HBG (Dec 9, 2007)

The park and ride facility in Canterbury is an excellent service and one we have used several times and the local council must be aplauded for it I just wish more councils would follow suit.
Having said that be warned if like us you come off a ferry at Dover and arrive after 8pm, the gates are shut !!!!!!!!!!
We arrived at about 9pm, our ferry was delayed because of strong winds and we followed a German motorhome into the park and ride only to find out we couldnt get in as it closes when the last bus leaves.
Its not much fun looking for somewhere to park at that time of night in a strange country or town in our case so we decided to drive the 200 miles home rather than park on some noisy motorway.
It is a real shame Canterbury cant leave access to the parking area for motorhomes coming off late ferries.


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## Invicta (Feb 9, 2006)

Being a local resident with an R/V and one who regularly uses the dumping facilities at the Canterbury Old Dover Road, Park and Ride site, I will post here what I was told by a Canterbury City Council officer; this was that the main purpose of providing the site was to encourage motorists/ motorcaravan owners not to use their own vehicles to go into the City. With that explanation I shouldn't be using it only for 'dumping' purposes! 

Bearing in mind purpose of its provision, it is therefore understandable why the gates are locked after the last bus has left. If they were to be left open 24 hours of the day it would require someone to watch to see that hordes of undesirables were not availing themselves of the cheap parking facilities.

I would suggest that the ferry companies in conjunction with the Port of Dover are the bodies that should be addressing the matter of where motorcaravanners/ caravanners can park in cases where the ferries have been delayed, not Canterbury City Council.


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## 104477 (May 13, 2007)

Also being fairly local and having used the Canterbury "aire" several times I have to concur with Invicta.
You are allowed to stay overnight but the reason for the gates being "locked" is to stop the misuse of the facilities, a sad reflection on some of our society.
There has been some problems with misuse and inconsiderate behaviour in the recent past which was highlighted on here by Invicta and others and which the authorities have dealt with. 
The fact that the barriers are locked at a set time also allows for weary travellers to have a restfull night without local boy racers doing donuts at 2am and throwing bottles at you. (happened 200 yards from my house in an open carpark!)

Complaining about the facility as it stands will make it harder to get other local authorities to act as forward thinkingly as Canterbury. 
Regards Rob.


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## mandyandandy (Oct 1, 2006)

Well its strange how these posts come up just when you are about to check on things. 

We are going to Canterbury Aire on the night of the 14th August and we have been before and noted that the gate was locked but had no idea at what time, hence I was going to have a search around for the time, so thanks for that  

The other thing I found strange was the lack of taps or black waste dumping, is it all supposed to go down the one huge unremoveable grid and does everyone use the one tap for drinking and cleaning waste tanks. 
Or is there another black waste dump that have yet to find with a separate tap? Last time we were there the grid was covered in (well I'm sure you can imagine) and the tap too far away to hose it down, took me ages with containers of water to get it clean for the next person, and not just of our own waste.

Thanks again for this
Mandy


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## JockandRita (Jun 1, 2005)

rapidorob said:


> The fact that the barriers are locked at a set time also allows for weary travellers to have a restfull night without local boy racers doing donuts at 2am and throwing bottles at you. (happened 200 yards from my house in an open carpark!)
> 
> Complaining about the facility as it stands will make it harder to get other local authorities to act as forward thinkingly as Canterbury.
> Regards Rob.


Hi Rob,

That's exactly the reason why we will be using the facility time and time again. We felt safe, and it was quiet.

I have to agree with Mandy, reference the points made about the grid on the dump facility, and the tap. I just used our grey waste to rinse the grid off.

Jock.


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## artona (Jan 19, 2006)

Hi

We use it, I think it closes for incoming traffic one hour after the last bus. If they did leave it open, as has been suggested the locals would use it as a race track as happens in car parks in Ipswich.

We have used motorway service car parks for late night parking - bit expensive at £14, I think the last one was. Some people do not pay but I am a light sleeper and I know would not sleep at all as I would be listening for the wheel clamp going on.

Canterbury is great and yes it would be superb if other councils could lay the same on


stew


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## Invicta (Feb 9, 2006)

Very pleased to see Mandy that you are one of the more conscientious users of the facilities at the Canterbury, Old Dover Road, Park and Ride facilities. Then of course it goes without saying that all your fellow MHF'ers are the same! 

The last time we used the dumping facility there the previous users had left in an appauling state. David (my son-in-law driver) and I spent a long time cleaning it. The next day I reported it to the council. I was thanked for doing so and informed that it is regularly inspected during the day but there is no-one there at night doing so.

It is true that there is only one tap there and that there is no hose with which to clean off the drain cover. There used to be one but you can guess what happened to that! Even so, surely all users have on board their own hose with which to do the job if not a bucket or other water carrying recepticle? The drain incidentally is no more than 12 ' away from the tap, may be less, I will measure the distance next time to ensure that MHF'ers have the correct length of hose on board when using this facility! 

For those who haven't used it and others who haven't been there yet this year, the price has gone up to £2.50. That includes unlimited journeys by the Park and Ride bus for a driver and up to 6 passengers. The buses run right into the the bus station that is app 5 mins walk to the Cathedral. Quite a bargain I would have thought!


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## 107088 (Sep 18, 2007)

It would be fantastic.....optimistic and fanciful...but fantastic if places like these were dotted about all over the place.

My local ferry has no overnight facility either in or near the Port, seems ludicrous when its an ideal ferry for the north west or west coast of France.


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