# Is there any truth in the rumours



## 99308 (May 19, 2006)

I was chatting to the mechanic that was fixing my RV and he told me that finally the government were cracking down on over width RVs.

According to him the main RV importers have been self-governing since the start but had failed to address the issue of importing over width vehicles and because of this they were cracking down on it.

Just how far "cracking down" actually goes is anybodies guess. They might just refuse registration to new imports or they might make it part of the MoT, who knows.

I have tried verifying the governments stance on this and other RV issues but despite the DoT charter to reply to written correspondence within 21 days they always ignore my letters and don't reply at all.

So does anybody know what the real situation is?


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## olley (May 1, 2005)

Hi rvman, were you bin? north pole? :lol: :lol: this has been hot topic for the past 3 months on here and other sites, here is one thread about this, there are others:
>>>here<<<

Nothing has been resolved yet, nor is it likely to be in the near future.

Olley


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## MicknPat (Jul 18, 2005)

RVman,

The other thread on the RV size issue is here <<< Here>>>>

Happy reading   oh,we will be asking questions tomorrow


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## 99308 (May 19, 2006)

Thanks for the links chaps. I hadn't had the time to fully research all the threads on this forum, but it made interesting reading nonetheless.

RV size does seem to be a minefield of misconception at best.

From my interpretation of the Bramhills case they did not appear to lose their case on actual vehicle width but on whether the Edwards (Destination RV) actually stated (or implied) that it was of legal width and whether a reasonable person would have thought it to be of satisfactory quality had they known that it was of an illegal width. Perhaps the outcome might have been slightly different had they based their case on whether Destination RV had sold a vehicle knowing that it was of an illegal width for UK roads.

If mirrors are excluded in the width measurements for RVs why are they INCLUDED in the width of trucks (at least they were when I went through a width restriction and the police measured my truck).

I think there will always be misconceptions with matters of this kind until the powers that be make hard and fast rulings, and implement them.

My initial query was sparked by the depth of detail and seemingly insider information that my source related to me. Not to go into too fine a detail this involved the big 4 RV importers having received letters from the Department of Transport stating that imports of vehicles over the legal UK limit would no longer be permitted registration in the UK. As such importers (Dudleys being one) had had vehicles refused at dockside and had to ship them back to the US. I basically wanted to know if this story had any substance.

Question: 

Why do Coachmen state in their UK advertising that they are the 'only American RVs that are legal on UK roads' if all RVs are legally acceptable? Their words not mine, although not a word for word quote.


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## kijana (May 1, 2005)

Or you could go here, which generated even more views:

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopic-14460.html

(Sorry, being a paid-up techno I can't make the 'here' a link)

As to the nonsense UK dealers in RV's come up with, I think they assume we are all numptys. Though how you're supposed to earn enough money to be in the market for an RV and still be a numpty is not clear.

I was looking at the hugely overpriced stock in Dudley's a week or two ago. I thought I'd get their take on the current overwidth issue, so said I was interested in a Winnebago but had heard there were problems with the width of later models.

The charming brunette lady (who you'll know if you've been there) told me the problem came about because American manufacturers publish the total width of their rigs, including awnings, hinges, door handles etc.

She said that VOSA measure the wall-to-wall width, net of protrusions, and hence even the later Winnebagos are UK acceptable (if Dudleys import them).

Hmmm, that's not the way I read Winnebago's own site vis-a-vis width...

Incidentally, I see that the motorhome data in July's issue of MMMMMMMM
magazine magically has Winnies shrunk to fit under the magic 100.4" figure.

Wouldn't it be nice to just know what was acceptable & what wasn't - oh, and how wide each coach really is?

But hey, where would the challenge be then? Eveyone would live in RV's.


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## richard863 (May 1, 2005)

Hi All

I do have sympathies with your problems. 
This country of ours is terrible for having more people stopping you do something that there are people to do something. 
This is particuly true in the engineering fields, engineers are a evil necessity not to be tolerated by British management. That is why any engineer worth his salts works overseas were they are appreciated. See my strange but true.

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopic-16424-0-days0-orderasc-.html

Cheers and beers


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## artona (Jan 19, 2006)

HI Kijana

slightly off topic in this thread but to add the here bit you do the following

1) go to the page you want to point people to and highlight the address
2) copy it, I usually click the right mouse button and use copy there
3) go to the thread you want to put the here bit into and create a message as normal.
4) when you get to the bit you want to put here look at the icons above the message and click on the fourth from the left in the bottom row - it is a pic of the world with a piece of chain link in front.
4) it will bring up a line with http at the start - remove the http as you will already have it in the line you copied
6) paste the line you copied into the box and press return
7) another box will come up where you write here or what ever else you want to call the link
8) when you preview your message you will see the http address does not show but instead the name you called it

stew


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## kijana (May 1, 2005)

Great, thanks for that Artona.

I've followed your instructions, and this is what happens . . .

Hoorah! One small step down the long and winding road from technoNITwittery to computer literacy.

Thanks

Bruce


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