Near miss ( I am an idiot )

[poppycamper]

Last thing I always do is walk around the van to check everything is in,closed and switched off

I am with robrace on this. When a tugger I would do Mrs Poppycamper's heid in when I would walk around unit.. get into car put seat belt on and then get out and then do a other walk around......Yep paranoid PS never lost a caravan

 

[MITHRANDIR]

I left one of the drawers open that are fitted to rapido vans on the outside sort of built into the side of the van, large external drawers, i'm sure you know the type, i then tried to park the van in its usual place, trouble is it was through a 10 foot 5 pair of substantial stone gate posts, is ripped off the bottom half of the van off from the middle all the way back including the rear bumper, and when i say ripped off, i'm not exaggerating, cost £5879.00 to put right, body shop had it for two months, ruined our summer break as we didn't go. what an idiot, and that's being overly polite.

 

[Cheshirecat57]

Looks nice but not in my price range unfortunately

To be fair, i will give it a go when its £30 a night later in year

 

[bobnick]

To be fair, i will give it a go when its £30 a night later in year

Does it have a club/restaurant???? i looked on the website but could not see one?? Must have.

 

[Swifter]

Does it have a club/restaurant???? i looked on the website but could not see one?? Must have.

Swimming Pool , kids pool and hot tubs .The shower block facilities are similar to a five star hotel .
There is a restaurant but no club house as such .They also do spa treatments . Price is for the pitch rather than per person .

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[Skyway]

I've told this before but many years ago we were away with the three kids and our lovely Huge black Briard. We had been away for a while and had got used to hooking the dog onto the tow ball at the rear of the van to stop him creating on site havoc. It was time to pack up and leave. Everything put away, Kids settled in the rear seats me and the wife up front and off we jolly well went heading for the next night stop...........Do I have to say any more.

Was the dog ok ?

 

[Shrimp]

He hasn’t answered so maybe the dog wasn’t ok!
Ive heard of this before and the outcome is never good!

 

[Northern Boy]

We learn, we learn again, this is life. I have done so many stupid things I cant remember then all now and I do remember how utterly silly I felt when I did them. I am learning to slow down, check things, and for me as I get older its even more important. I made almost every mistakes when I rushed.

On a lighter note my daughter in law went shopping a few years back with the kids and took her husbands car, so? you say! Well the trailer was still attached when she got home, she never noticed it...... All is well that ends well.

 

[bobnick]

I know a bloke who sent a damp meter back cause he thought it was broke, turns out it was only the plastic protective film on the screen blocking the readings. How stupid is that

 

[buttons]

buttons you can't leave it like that was he all right

Yes Carol he lived for many years after his near miss, eventually passing at home and being laid to rest in a quiet part of the garden. His saving grace on that day as we were pulling out of that French campsite onto a busy road was the kids shouting, dad dad stop stop Morris is running behind the van.

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[NicandJay]

Back in the mid 60's my mother walked up the local shops with my brother as a newish baby in the Silver Crest pram. As you could in them days, she left the pram with son outside the small supermarket whilst she did her shopping.
Shopping done walked home.
It was only when her neighbour said..... "you sure you haven't forgotten something?" that she belatedly realised that baby was still at the shops!
Damn I could have been an only child! Only kidding Si (he's not on here)

 

[Rjcamper]

Couple of near misses for us, now we always say before pulling off

'Cabin crew, cross check for departure....'

Always gives us a smile before we go, little things

 

[jumartoo]

There was . It’s stopped working . So I will never trust that again and always make sure I do a double check . Completely ashamed of my foolishness

Ours is the same. Hasn't worked since we've had the van. I do a pre check. Step in, door locked. Fridge turned to 12V, door locked. Cupboard doors locked. Roof vents down. We've had the fridge contents out before now and also the complete cutlery drawer off its runners (that does make a clatter).

However, only yesterday we drove with the step out. We stopped en route so Martin could go to a pharmacy and we got out of the side door. I went to the recycling bins. I left the step and the door unlocked for Martin to come back in, but he got in the drivers door. I nipped back to lock the hab door and forgot about the step. It's easily done when you're out of the check mode

 

[uzsnowdrop]

Back in the mid 60's my mother walked up the local shops with my brother as a newish baby in the Silver Crest pram. As you could in them days, she left the pram with son outside the small supermarket whilst she did her shopping.
Shopping done walked home.
It was only when her neighbour said..... "you sure you haven't forgotten something?" that she belatedly realised that baby was still at the shops!
Damn I could have been an only child! Only kidding Si (he's not on here)

Yep, dropping the kids off at school one morning , arrived at work 10 miles away, kids quiet as mice in the back ‘ Daddy where are we going?

 

[KiwiKampers]

We had spent a relaxing day parked behind a beach north of Auckland but we were too lazy (and probably sozzled) to put away our picnic chairs and small table so we just shoved them under the van in case it rained overnight.
I miss those chairs.

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[gus-lopez]

My last had an electric step operated on a remote din plug wandering lead that velcroed to inside the door. I used to stack stff there when travelling. To prevent problems I fitted buzzers if the step wasn't in .
On the North Devon link road I was asking Jac what the noise was Something had moved & lent on the remote & the step was lowering itself.

Same thing happened entering Aldis at the entrance to Gare du Futurscope at Poitiers early one sauturday morning as I swung round the step started lowering.

After that I removed the remote & rewired it for a simple electric window type switch

 

[Mark and Mindy]

In our last van the fridge door had to be pushed hard in the top outer corner to make sure that it was closed, I hadn't pushed hard enough and the fridge door opened when we went round a tight bend on a country road. I turned to look at the result and the contents of the fridge were on the floor, luckily everything was sealed and there was no actual food on the floor but it could have been a lot worse.

 

[sedge]

Cupboard with half round door under worktop at the side of the sink in our van - we keep the pots and pans in it. It is THE only internal door in the whole van which needs you to press a button in, to latch it. The others latch automatically when you shut them flush, then press button in middle of handle whenever you open them again.

The number of times there's been a noisy metallic crashing as all the pans have fallen out the door and down into the internal doorsteps footwell as we've just gone around the first RH corner after leaving wherever ....... and never anywhere to pull in safely thereafter ! Oh well, they're down the bottom step and safely trapped, so won't be able to rattle and annoy us now ........ just turn the anti rattle device up a notch!

 

[Grummyb]

Your not the only one I have done it twice now, each time another driver has flagged me down

I always say once is a mistake twice sheer stupidity

 

[golly]

Our step dont retract when starting the engine but has a buzzer, not a nice gentle reminder type buzzer but a nerve jangling in your face bas**d of a buzzer. The Pop top also uses the same buzzer to warn if the catches are not engaged, I spent a good half hour lifting and closing the Pop top to get the damned buzzer to stop, when the chap on the next pitch came over and said "is it not your step, as its still out" .
Oh how I laughed (not)

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[ceejayt]

Three vans and several years ago I was in a flap (can't remember why but I was parked in Dusseldorf by the river) I managed tk drive off with the slide out OUT - fortunately only managed about 10 yards - couldn't work out why I couldn't see behind with my wing mirror - what a doofus!.

Impossible in the new van due to the way it all works but ever since I have always had one finals walk around the van before I set off - you learn quick from big mistakes!

 

[Emmit]

I have left the step behind,,BUSBY

So have I.
There's an owner of a Relais Routier somewhere in France who's still trying to work out why there was a caravan step in the middle of their lorry park early one Monday morning.

 

[busby]

So have I.
There's an owner of a Relais Routier somewhere in France who's still trying to work out why there was a caravan step in the middle of their lorry park early one Monday morning.

Left mine on an Aire in France 2 years ago.
BUSBY.

 

[busby]

I also stupidly drove off at home with the electric cable connected and plugged in to my mains through a window.Phew got away with it,, Luckily it pulled out of the mains socket and through the window without causing any damage..BUSBY.

 

[Nanniemate]

I usually do a final stop after a bout 100 yards as not matter how many times I check there's always one door

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[ceejayt]

Just remembered FOUR vans ago in a Flair in France we saw a 7/11 open and made a swift decision to just pull in to the very nice pull in parking space right outside the shop. Shop was brand new, just opened.

Decided I wasn't quite straight in the parking space so reversed back a couple of metres only to hear a huge sound of breaking glass and stuff. The clever French people had put a brand new electric sign outside the shop and it stuck out right over the parking spot - just at the height where a 3m motorhome could reverse into it.

Offered much apologies in the shop, just a sign I thought it couldn't be that expensive - of course, being brand new he had the receipt right there €1300 (and that was back when €1300 was really €1300 ) - claimed on the insurance - no damage to the van, pride suitably broken.

It does occur to me that whenever these things happen to me, big or small, t is always because I have made some unplanned swift decision to do something without really thinking it through.

 

[Gellyneck]

I know a bloke who sent a damp meter back cause he thought it was broke, turns out it was only the plastic protective film on the screen blocking the readings. How stupid is that

I also know one who thought his replacement one was also broken with the same fault!

 

[scally]

We all make mistakes

I was somewhere high in the mountains in Northern Spain in a huge van with tired and hungry kids and a shall we say ‘tired and tetchy’ wife, It took ages to find the campsite I had booked earlier, When we eventually found it, it looked rough and ready, but more than good enough. It took me a while to get into the place with the narrow gate on an angle, and once in it took me a while longer to find the owner. It took me ages to realise it was the homemade wooden leccy post that was dead and not a trip in my van or a duff fuse in my cable. Finally got level, (it was a mountain site) found the owner again and got the power turned on. Sorted, I was looking forward to a beer.

Then I heard, “We’ve got no food, we need milk, we need bread. you said you were going to stop on the way here” A futile argument followed. Now I was cursing, the kids were crying, Siân still telling me yet again, "well you said you were going to stop on the way, we’ve got nothing, the kids are hungry"

Bugger it, we’ll have to go back down the mountain to that village we passed about 6 miles back. Off the levels, negotiated the gate far too fast. Sped down the mountain, again far too fast, hoping the little shop would still be open. It was. I parked right outside, almost blocking the road, and went in. When I came out stocked up with goodies I couldn’t fail to notice the 25m orange cable behind my van, attached to a little wooden electric post.

We wild camped that night.

Sorry Jim but I had to laugh, having done just the same in my early days. Didn't bring the post though just a completely knackered plug

 

[1ten]

Our step has a very load buzzer if its out when you start the engine. I am surprised the hook up doesn't have something similar, could save an expensive stupid mistake.

 

[bobnick]

I also know one who thought his replacement one was also broken with the same fault!

Some Richard Heads about ain't there

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