# Yellow No Overnight Camping Signs in Scotland



## Vanterrier (Sep 1, 2011)

We have just completed an excellent tour of the far north and west coasts of Scotland and "Wild" camped 4 out of 7 nights and had a great holiday overall. I noticed many suitable wild camping sites had an unwelcoming yellow sign with black bold print stating "No Overnight Camping" so avoided those sites, they seemed more prominent if there was a campsite nearby but in most cases the campsite was closed at this time of year anyway... so what is the legal position ? are those signs enforced? there didnt appear to be any authorising agency marked on the signs (like local district council or whatever)
what are your views/advice/experiences

K :wink:


----------



## bigfoot (May 16, 2005)

apparently at a recent meeting of the Highlands and Islands Council these signs were dismissed as carrying no legal powers, Some of the signs were illegally put up by campsite owners,which I suspect was the case in some of the ones you saw. Scotlands Right to roam policy is as established as Swedens 'every mans right'.


----------



## mollmagee (Jun 15, 2006)

living in scotland i park overnight where these signs are/to date no probs./next door copper says he and his fellow plods have never been told to move anyone on/fort william"where i live" car parks are patrolled at night and you will get a ticket but the norm is to warn first/personally i stop away from towns where i know out of season no-one will bother us


----------



## Vanterrier (Sep 1, 2011)

Thanks Guys, I kind of suspected they were not "legal" signs but SWMBO wasnt happy staying where they were seen. pity as there were some cracking good sites that would have made a great stop-over. These were typically miles out of town but within a few miles of a campsite. If these signs have no legality then who put them up and were they breaking the law by doing so? some were on private land ( parking places and view points run by various "estates" and the Forestry Commision) but most were lay-by's and stretches of Old Road - left unmaintained when a new road was built nearby.

K :wink:


----------



## 747 (Oct 2, 2009)

bigfoot said:


> apparently at a recent meeting of the Highlands and Islands Council these signs were dismissed as carrying no legal powers, Some of the signs were illegally put up by campsite owners,which I suspect was the case in some of the ones you saw. Scotlands Right to roam policy is as established as Swedens 'every mans right'.


The above information is correct but only applies to the 'Highlands and Islands' region.

I noticed these signs on the East coast last year (I believe in Fife) and they were even posted in every layby on main roads. There had been problems with 'travellers' up the E. coast as far as Aberdeen and possibly beyond. This does not necessarily mean they are legal, even if they had been put there by Councils. Very often they fit the signs but do not go to the bother of making byelaws to support them.

If it were me, I would use these places despite the signs. After all, what are they going to do? At worst, someone might ask you to move on. This raises the question of who will do that. Answer, not the Police, it has nothing to do with them unless you are causing an obstruction for instance. The council employees go home at 5 pm, so they cannot do anything.

I actually did ignore them a couple of times and was not bothered. The problems start when large numbers of vans hog a beauty spot for long periods. On a personal level, I avoid busy places for an overnighter and tend to go 'out of season' for longer trips. I will be back up that way next year, signs or no signs. :lol:


----------



## barryd (May 9, 2008)

My only issue is the fact that somebody doesn't want you there. I agree with 747 there is no chance of you getting into bother but it's just the fact that someone be it the council or some idiot campsite owner who for some reason thinks this will somehow guide a wild camper to his campsite. So I guess I may or may not stay.

Then again if it says no overnight camping if your just parking and not getting awnings, tables etc out your not camping.

It's like those signs that say no sleeping in vehicles. How will they know if your asleep,

it will be a shame if Scotland becomes like England as it's always been much more relaxed. Especially the islands. If it does I just won't bother going there anymore. As it is it's a hard job sometimes to point the van north when we leave when it's so tempting just to fly down to Dover and over the channel


----------



## ardgour (Mar 22, 2008)

We have noticed an increasing number of these signs in the last few years. Certainly up the east coast people are twitchy because a group of 'travellers' have openly declared a campaign against the local authorities up here so are deliberately provoking things by turning up in large numbers and parking up where they like then leaving the usual mess and problems. The upshot has been that some caravan and MH owners have had aggro from locals (usually youths) when parked anywhere but standard sites.
So if in this area I would steer clear of anywhere with one of these signs - it is possibly somewhere that has had 'traveller' problems in the past. However if you stay away from centres of population there are still plenty of places

Chris


----------



## Stanner (Aug 17, 2006)

747 said:


> After all, what are they going to do? At worst, someone might ask you to move on. This raises the question of who will do that. Answer, not the Police, it has nothing to do with them unless you are causing an obstruction for instance.


If anyone does ask you to move simply request to see their authority to make the request - ID card, Warrant card or whatever. Then ask them to quote the statute that empowers them to ask you to move on.



> The council employees go home at 5 pm, so they cannot do anything.


A common mis-conception you'd be surprised how many work outside normal "office hours".


----------



## 747 (Oct 2, 2009)

Thanks for the info Stanner.

However, this is how it would work in practice.

If someone approached the van and knocked on the door, the dogs would rush to it barking. Then they would all go to the window and bark at the stranger outside. I would quietly slip out of a cab door and speak pleasantly to the stranger, who would no doubt speak pleasantly to me. Well, you would, would'nt you, with 4 dogs glaring at you.

It happened just recently one morning on the Northumberland coast but the dogs were on the beach at the time.  I agreed not to overnight at that spot anymore but it was the day we were leaving anyway. Instead of a pointless argument, I researched the Council website and could find no overnight parking restrictions (plenty of fishermen overnight there with cars). At some time, convenient to me, I will park there again and ask for proof of local byelaws when I am visited. The main reason I did not enter into an argument the first time was the fact that I had my wind turbine set up and my tripod mounted sat dish in place.   . I could not really argue my case, could I.


----------



## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

I have ignored signs in numerous places but only when there was plenty of room and only where I would not block views or cause inconvenience. 

Many motorhomers have spent time trying to understand the legality or otherwise of these signs. I doubt that most members of the public would be similarly informed. Imagine how what we are doing looks to them. I expect that many see what they assume are motorhomers breaking the law and indeed in many instances we may be for all we know. That perception cannot be good for our image.

I have no solution to offer. The only one seems to be to stop doing it because it looks bad and I am not going to do that but just remember how it looks and at least try to do it unobtrusively, Alan.


----------



## moby56 (Sep 16, 2010)

If anybody did challenge you ask them if they know what the highway code said about driving whilst tired chances are no one would ever bother you we have just spent 2 months in gods country and wild camped for most of it and had a wonderful time


----------



## oilslick (Oct 3, 2007)

*we dont have a tent*

I thought these signs were put up to stop people pitching tents. 

We have a motorhome.

AND we might happen to have just stopped for a cup of coffee whilst travelling during the night...


----------



## Vanterrier (Sep 1, 2011)

As they dont appear to be legally enforceable maybe we should replace or modify the ones we find to say "*G*o Overnight Camping its allowed" :lol:

K :wink:


----------

