# new french Aires concept



## ptmike (Apr 25, 2010)

beware a company is persuading french and other towns to charge for use of their aires .
we found one at Millau. min charge 9.60 € per night
they are http://www.campingcarpark.co.uk/The-concept


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## bognormike (May 10, 2005)

why would anybody pay for that when they can get "ordinary" aires? Where is the Millau one you mention? It seems to be backed by FFCC - is it campsite based? The link doesn't expalin much....


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## Techno100 (May 8, 2010)

At the end of the day it's a free market and demand will dictate success or failure. The towns that provide the best aires FREE or NOT are often FULL
Bring it on


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## GEMMY (Jun 19, 2006)

I can see it now, queues of French and Dutch m/homers waiting to pay for an aire. :roll: :lol: 

tony


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## ptmike (Apr 25, 2010)

the millau one is in the Aire book is used by lots of mhers. there were 30 when we were there the other week. those that I spoke to said they would be going elsewhere like us 
go onto www camping-car-park.com
couldn't establish who is behind the company but I guess they take over the aire provide the aire water kit and the computerised entrance kit and they shsre some of the earnings with the town
someone was handing out leaflets and the access cards to register on line they are called Pass' etapes cartes .
let's hope they don't catch on 
cheers Mike


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## Techno100 (May 8, 2010)

Cracking little brand new aires like Le Grand Fougeray will win hands down for the local economy.
Free parking waste and fresh water. A great stop on market days!
http://techno.smugmug.com/Travel/Le-Grand-fougeray-aire-and/22334896_z4W5Dg#!i=1784670823&k=HXB6HxN


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## WildThingsKev (Dec 29, 2009)

A quick scan of the French website and it would seem that many are add-ons to existing campsites.


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## olley (May 1, 2005)

They do an Google app. https://play.google.com/store/apps/...EsImZyLm1vYmlsZW1vbmV5LmNhbXBpbmdjYXJwYXJrIl0.

Ian


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## Jean-Luc (Jul 21, 2005)

I noticed the following text on their website *"you're free to set up camp"*.
Camping activities are not allowed on 'Aires', which are legally just 'parking areas', and it is usually prohibited under local bye-laws.
To me, it looks like these 'camping-car parks' will be something which will be on private grounds where camping will be permitted or within a section of an existing camp-site.


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

That one seems to be exactly as the OP has described - the GPS location is exactly the same as the one given in the Campsite Reviews on here; 22 Rue de la Saunerie, Millau

the same address and Google street view is found using that location and zooming in on the map given by that company.......

If that becomes the norm it could be bad news BUT that aire is one that is often overfull and they have had some problems there with that overcrowding.........

It will be of interest to see what, if anything, happens.......

€9.60 is not an unreasonable figure for such a facility so close to the centre of a very popular tourist town........

many aires in deserted places charge a total of €4 or €5 for staying 24 hours, having an EHU and fresh water; there is one near Toulouse where the entry fee is €3, the fresh water was €2.50 and 24hours EHU €2.50 s0 that is a total of €8 and that is at the edge of a small village 1.0km from the Canal at Castelsarrassin...........

Choose wisely and if you don't like the projected cost go elsewhere......
sadly there will be many who will pay such a fee and consider it good value (but we won't be using it...... :lol: )

The commune may eventually realise that they are harming their tourist industry........ presumably their daily charge includes tourist tax too at about €0.40 per day for over 13 year olds.......

Dave


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## ptmike (Apr 25, 2010)

the millau one is the existing aire , sadly the leaflet I was given says you access card gives you
24 access
5 € for 5 hours
1 € for each extra hour
12 € max for 24 hours
not for us
cheers Mike


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## CurlyBoy (Jan 13, 2008)

I can't see it happening any more than free aires here :lol: :lol: , how many times have you witnessed French, Belgium and Dutch MH,s hurriedly leaving an Aire early in the morning so as to avoid the man collecting the money in the morning or arriving very late to avoid the evening collection.

curlyboy


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## emjaiuk (Jun 3, 2005)

For non members, the bit that would worry me, and should worry the local town etc., is were it says the 24 hour period ends at mid day. That wouldn't give most peole time to look around the locality. This could also possibly apply to the 'max €12/24hours' I'm afraid in these cash strapped times for local authorities I can see this taking off unfortunatly. Look at the number of munincipals that have been privatised. Even if it does discourage visitors, it will take 3/4 years for them to realise it./

Malcolm


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## ChrisandJohn (Feb 3, 2008)

We only paid €12 to stay on an ACSI campsite when we were in Millau recently. The 'aires' described sound more like campsites for motorhomes, especially if a 24 hr stay runs from noon to noon - just like The CC and C&CC.


Chris


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*One*

There was one in Vannes part of the ACSI camping card site we stayed at last month.

It was only €2 more to stay at next door on the proper camp site.

For the €2 you got 10amp hook up over the battery charging current from the camping car stop over.

Use of the pool, showers etc.

But when the campsite is closed, the camping car park would be very useful.

We also saw a lot of campers who simply parked along the road.

TM


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## Techno100 (May 8, 2010)

I stayed 2 days last Sunday/Monday 
The barrier and payment system successfully kept out three Gipsy caravans with two vans and two cars and a host of kids. :thumbup: 
It's clean and well serviced with a variety of sized pitches. 
Pictures when I'm back home but we enjoyed it and its good value IMHO


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## Techno100 (May 8, 2010)

ptmike said:


> the millau one is the existing aire , sadly the leaflet I was given says you access card gives you
> 24 access
> 5 € for 5 hours
> 1 € for each extra hour
> ...


Hi Mike
It is €12 if you pay over the phone and receive an access code by SMS. 
Otherwise it is €9.60 if you buy an access card at the barrier by bank card. The access card must be immediately validated in a specific slot in the payment machine after which you just place it in front of either keypads (proximity reader) 
I witnessed at least a dozen French turning away from the barrier. I personally helped about the same number to enter the site as the instructions are not super clear and this is equally to blame for folk not coming in. 
There is an electricity point on the born which was being shared by three vans for battery charging lol tight gits


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Bloody hell! It sounds like someone trying to turn Aires into the CC. The French wont stand for it thankfully. They hate paying for parking!

€12 for an Aire is a lot and for that I would expect my own EHU. I would rather it was free with no time limits. I usually would spend at least €12 locally.

I much prefer the drive on and leave when you like Aire and I would hate to see them start to take on any kind of uniformity. I like to be surprised and DO NOT want to start seeing CC style motorhome campsites cropping up where they are all the same!

Dont think it will catch on.


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## eurajohn (May 9, 2005)

Le Monde du Camping Car a French magazine this month had an on-line survey regarding what you would pay for a stop over the results were up to €10=46.35%, €10 to €20=38.02%, 20€ to 30€= €4.17% over €30= 0.52% and 10.94% of respondents said they never used pay for sites.


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