Tourists caught emptying motorhome toilets into Loch Rannoch

[nicholsong]

None of us like the idea but dumping waste of all types by motorhome users is more common than we like to admit. Lay-bys streams gullies storm drains are all tempting when wild camping with full tanks. What do you do with your full tanks when wilding in remote areas?

I have used a combination of the following, but we carry a spare cassette. -

Public toilets when nobody is about

Ask at private campsites and response has been yes every time and sometimes just a £3.00 fee, put something in the charity box, or nothing - but they got some Belgian chocolates.

In the Highlands we have used the Boy Scout method - walk away from the road, and away from water courses, use folding shovel to remove top turf and lay aside, dig down a foot, deposit cassette contents, replace soil and top turf. I am sure hiking parties do the same - and the sheep and cattle.

We bought our folding shovel in Callander - because the locals probably prefer the use of that rather than surface defecation.

Geoff

 

[Nirvanauk]

Is there an Motorhome Services App for the UK ?
(I've had a browse and not found anything)

Don’t know about the app but love your avatar.

 

[TheTwoOfUs]

Ask at private campsites and response has been yes every time and sometimes just a £3.00 fee, put something in the charity box, or nothing - but they got some Belgian chocolates.



Geoff

Never heard it called that before

 

[Fletton]

I saw this article elsewhere...
My comment was. ...

In todays society... Where everything possible is photographed or caught on video.... on a smart phone...

Why no pictures of culprit in the act? .....

 

[Barclaybasher]

When I lived on a boat in a harbour in Mallorca many years ago the toilet pumped straight out, no chemicals.
Look over the side and you'd see a feeding frenzy of fish gobbling everything up......every boat was the same
Farmers in some parts of the World spread the same on fields.....

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[tomm]

I saw this article elsewhere...
My comment was. ...

In todays society... Where everything possible is photographed or caught on video.... on a smart phone...

Why no pictures of culprit in the act? .....

Media articles like the one at the head of this thread appear fairly regularly and do seem to come across as anecdotal rather than proven fact . My own take on these seemingly anecdotal instances is that its local worthies,(old boy network) with some kind of vested interest in ensuring motorhomes dont "wild camp".

 

[Northernraider]

It says it was a conservation officer that caught them and I'm not sure exactly what powers they have. I hope at the very least they got fined and told to bugger off.

I would hope he took names and registration and reported it to the Police

Me too
Fed up with these claims being made bit never any photographic evidence or update on result etc.
If someone caught red handed they need to prove it too us , too many false unsubstantiated claims with questionable intent at times.

Not saying it didn't happen but would hold more ground with hard facts and proof.

 

[Southdowners]

We’ve never seen anyone emptying cassettes anywhere they shouldn't. However, the disgusting mess left by tent campers and car users is everywhere.

There appears to be no attempt whatsoever to cover the mess. Wet wipes and tissue paper left strewn everywhere. Even in the remotest of locations we’ve found this. On a beautiful beach in Norway we were unlucky enough to find a pile of shit, tissue and discarded wet wipes and a toilet roll left in situ!

I wonder if there’s any truth to the article... I tend to think not.

 

[Chris51]

Instead of banning motorhomes they should do what every other EU country does, and provide proper parking aires.
We are on a free aire in France, there are general waste bins and recycling bins and usually places to empty black and grey waste for free. There are hundreds of similar aires.

Problem if free would then be "gypos" turning up then piles of rubble/hedge cuttings etc,etc,?

 

[CazPaul]

The odd Motorhome dumping their cassette in lakes, sea, the roadside is disgusting and unacceptable. But it pails into the insignificance compared to the amount of car drivers who pee, crap and just throw their dirty tissues down at the roadside, laybys, parking areas etc., then there are all the bottles of piss from lorry drivers.

Motorhomes get targeted and they ban the lot of because of the misdemeanours of a few but they are quite happy to let thousands of people crap and pee everywhere, it just doesn't add up.

The only logical explanation is that UK councils or councillors don't like Motorhomes and will do whatever they can to stop them.

Very true, motorhomes an easy target.
What is the point of complaining about car drivers dumping rubbish and shitty nappies in lovely areas, no point trying to ban cars is there?

But motorhomes, now there is a good target.

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[Northernraider]

We’ve never seen anyone emptying cassettes anywhere they shouldn't. However, the disgusting mess left by tent campers and car users is everywhere.

There appears to be no attempt whatsoever to cover the mess. Wet wipes and tissue paper left strewn everywhere. Even in the remotest of locations we’ve found this. On a beautiful beach in Norway we were unlucky enough to find a pile of shit, tissue and discarded wet wipes and a toilet roll left in situ!

I wonder if there’s any truth to the article... I tend to think not.

Unfortunately I have to say I'd never seen anyone empty one where they shouldnt before either until this year in Spain where I witnessed one spanish motorhome emptying his in a Bush and while I was writing about it on here on my thread a second van did exactly the same thing ?
So it does happen .....I just think when it makes the papers and news etc evidence should be provided as 9 times out of ten in the uk theres some campsite ,b&b or councillor with a vested interest telling the story

 

[Northernraider]

Very true, motorhomes an easy target.
What is the point of complaining about car drivers dumping rubbish and shitty nappies in lovely areas, no point trying to ban cars is there?

But motorhomes, now there is a good target.

Yep I agree with this, the toilet paper and human waste left in sand dunes and bushes next to beaches etc is ridiculous
But never see complaints about the cars

Like I said before it's usually a campsite etc making the claims about campers

It's in their interests to get wild spots shut down as they hope it pushes them on to their sites.

 

[CazPaul]

Yep I agree with this, the toilet paper and human waste left in sand dunes and bushes next to beaches etc is ridiculous
But never see complaints about the cars

Like I said before it's usually a campsite etc making the claims about campers

It's in their interests to get wild spots shut down as they hope it pushes them on to their sites.

I see it up here on the moors regularly, cars dumping all manner of things, as soon as a motorhome does owt there is a letter and a petition.

 

[Northernraider]

Very true, motorhomes an easy target.
What is the point of complaining about car drivers dumping rubbish and shitty nappies in lovely areas, no point trying to ban cars is there?

But motorhomes, now there is a good target.

Yep I agree with this, the toilet paper and human waste left in sand dunes and bushes next to beaches etc is ridiculous
But never see complaints about the cars

Like I said before it's usually a campsite etc making the claims about campers

It's in their interests to get wild spots shut down as they hope it pushes them on to their sites.

I see it up here on the moors regularly, cars dumping all manner of things, as soon as a motorhome does owt there is a letter and a petition.

Yep it's totally unfair

Not sure what we can do about it though

power of the press works ....

 

[GWAYGWAY]

probably anecdotal, papers are good at doing that. However, on the M25 you can empty your MH cassette in the coach drop, IF you pay £25 AND can stand the stench, while you do it.

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[Northernraider]

I have used a combination of the following, but we carry a spare cassette. -

Public toilets when nobody is about

Ask at private campsites and response has been yes every time and sometimes just a £3.00 fee, put something in the charity box, or nothing - but they got some Belgian chocolates.

In the Highlands we have used the Boy Scout method - walk away from the road, and away from water courses, use folding shovel to remove top turf and lay aside, dig down a foot, deposit cassette contents, replace soil and top turf. I am sure hiking parties do the same - and the sheep and cattle.

We bought our folding shovel in Callander - because the locals probably prefer the use of that rather than surface defecation.

Geoff

All methods I've used also

I've buried contents in highlands before.
Never use chemicals in my loo and always carry a folding shovel.

 

[romany]

see here how many so called stories this paper has done all anti wild camping and motorhomers

wild camping Archives

www.thecourier.co.uk

 

[Northernraider]

see here how many so called stories this paper has done all anti wild camping and motorhomers

wild camping Archives

www.thecourier.co.uk

Yep looks like they have an agenda
The " no overnight parking " signs failed and were removed so this is their new approach.

 

[Lenny HB]

probably anecdotal, papers are good at doing that. However, on the M25 you can empty your MH cassette in the coach drop, IF you pay £25 AND can stand the stench, while you do it.

It's £5 not £25.

 

[jearing]

People like that give motorhomers a bad name.

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[Northernraider]

People like that give motorhomers a bad name.

No ...the press and campsite owners that blame all the mess on motorhomers give motirhomes a bad name.

 

[tomm]

see here how many so called stories this paper has done all anti wild camping and motorhomers

wild camping Archives

www.thecourier.co.uk

For what its worth , that newspaper , part of the DC Thomson company , was my "local" paper for most of my life. In my opinion , a more negatively parochial and inward looking paper would be difficult to find.
As I mentioned in an earlier post on this thread, maybe just maybe the "old boy network" with vested interests could be behind fuelling those "articles" for their own agenda ? By all means not all the stories are wrong , as no doubt there are motorhomers guilty of dumping waste....... But that geographic area isnt exactly over run with motorhomers, so other visitors in cars and dare I say it , caravans , could well be the main culprits for dumping.

 

[tonyidle]

JJust another snippet:

Cruise ships released over one billion gallons of sewage into the ocean in 2014, according to a new report from Friends of the Earth. ... Federal law requires that cruise ships only dump treated wastewater if they are within three nautical miles of shore. But beyond that point, it's essentially a free-for-all.

 

[TinaLes]

The answer is simple, surely its the lack of public toilets everywhere, even the towns have closed them, let alone any car parks in AONB forrestry, wildlife, coastal, you name it areas. How the hell is any human supposed to walk for 2/3/4 hours in any of these areas without having a call of nature.
Having a pee is one thing, but a No2 leaving wipes and loo roll is another.
(and they cant wash their hands!!)
The councils must know this, but either say they cant afford it, despite pay& display car parks in most places, or simply blame the MH's and put a height restriction in place. Bet the car parks are still full of litter & crap though, even though we can prove it wasn't us causing the problem in the first place
I also notice (re mention of lorry drivers) that most lay byes either dont have any waste bins or those that do, are overflowing and dont appear to have been emptied on a regular enough basis.

More public toilets is the only answer, like we used to have...remember where the saying came from "I need to spend a penny"
LES

 

[Northernraider]

The answer is simple, surely its the lack of public toilets everywhere, even the towns have closed them, let alone any car parks in AONB forrestry, wildlife, coastal, you name it areas. How the hell is any human supposed to walk for 2/3/4 hours in any of these areas without having a call of nature.
Having a pee is one thing, but a No2 leaving wipes and loo roll is another.
(and they cant wash their hands!!)
The councils must know this, but either say they cant afford it, despite pay& display car parks in most places, or simply blame the MH's and put a height restriction in place. Bet the car parks are still full of litter & crap though, even though we can prove it wasn't us causing the problem in the first place
I also notice (re mention of lorry drivers) that most lay byes either dont have any waste bins or those that do, are overflowing and dont appear to have been emptied on a regular enough basis.

More public toilets is the only answer, like we used to have...remember where the saying came from "I need to spend a penny"
LES

Unfortunately with council budgets being slashed by our lovely government these are the types of services first to go.

Prices go up services go down
Some people get rich and the rest of us get screwed ?‍

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[buttons]

Unfortunately with council budgets being slashed by our lovely government these are the types of services first to go.

Prices go up services go down
Some people get rich and the rest of us get screwed ?‍

The belly locker is the place for political posts northernrider….

 

[Northernraider]

The belly locker is the place for political posts northernrider….

This entire post is politics

Everything in life IS politics
whenever you mention councils , public services or newspaper articles its politics

If you dont wish to discuss politics you're best staying in bed with the covers pulled over your head. ?

 

[Northernraider]

None of us like the idea but dumping waste of all types by motorhome users is more common than we like to admit. Lay-bys streams gullies storm drains are all tempting when wild camping with full tanks. What do you do with your full tanks when wilding in remote areas?

That's why we have those gin palaces with toilets and waste tanks buttons that you don't like

It's those people with VW California with no toilet or tanks that have to crap in the bushes ?‍


8 days I can wild camp without needing water or waste disposal

 

[buttons]

That's why we have those gin palaces with toilets and waste tanks buttons that you don't like

It's those people with VW California with no toilet or tanks that have to crap in the bushes ?‍


8 days I can wild camp without needing water or waste disposal

If there were two as most traveler's are then that would be reduced to four days. Take off another two days if the second party is non male and you will need regular dumping places every couple of days. We are after all talking about the average traveler's not one person traveling alone in a Gin Palace.

 

[Northernraider]

If there were two as most traveler's are then that would be reduced to four days. Take off another two days if the second party is non male and you will need regular dumping places every couple of days. We are after all talking about the average traveler's not one person traveling alone in a Gin Palace.

It's still better than 0 days in a VW with one person isnt it

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