Honiton Hill

to spend £12000 on a landrover Disco because they wouldn't allow him on site with his 2 week old brand new ( but no side windows) Landrover , towing the caravan for his family, unless he was an exibitor, as he might be a traveller/ gypo whatever they call them. So he tells me anyway. Steve the grease

There are no shows that are worth spending £12,000 on !

-- Dave Croft Warrington England

Steve, Unfortunately equipment goes missing in large quantities from the camp sites and this van or pick up ban is one of the ways of making sure that the area is "secure" because you can see into windowed vehicles. To say he did not know is also strange because it is printed on all of their leaflets about the rally before they even order the tickets. Agreed its a pain but I feel a little happier about security.

Martin P

Whatever the reason for the GD's strange (AFAIK unique) vehicle policy, and the campsite entrance heavies will spin you a variety of fairy stories depending on what they can think up, that one can't be it as we were refused entry for the heinous crime of having a dismountable camper on a (practically new) doublecab pick up. All parts of this vehicle have windows. The story we were given was that we might take the back off (despite the notable absence of jacklegs, it's "dismountable" only in the sense that when completely empty it can be slid and tipped off for the winter) and "use the pickup to steal stuff".

Another version of the story is that one year they had a problem with travellers who refused to move on after the show closed, and the rules are supposed to exclude traveller/ tink type vehicles. Again, doesn't add up because; 1) Neither group has ever favoured small dismountable campers and 2) the autojumble area and exhibitors' car park is full of exactly the sort of vehicles they *do* use, not surprisingly.

My advice is not to bother; the show is too big and impersonal anyway, impressive only for its sheer size. If you must, and are a member of the Camping and Caravanning Club, they run a Temporary Holiday Site for members just down the road, with a vintage bus shuttle to the show, without the arcane rules about what you can or can't bring on site.

Or visit one of the many decent size rallies around the country where the organisers actually give a s*it for the paying punter.

Hi, As to the decent size rallies that care a s*it for the exhibitors, After this year forget about Flookborough as this year they shut the beer tent at 6.00 PM on both days "to prevent trouble". It is a vast camping area & the beer tent was the only place where you could meet your friends. Many exhibitors are saying that next year they will go to Welland for a far more civilised attitude. They also cancelled the auction & prevented visitor camping. No doubt the financial state of the club will be affected by this disaster.

-- Dave Croft Warrington England

meet your friends.

more civilised attitude.

Just goes to show... Presumably something happened last year. We went to Flookburgh a few years ago, it was the year of FMD and we went because all the local rallies had been cancelled. There was a fair bit of traffic congestion getting in which I put down to the assumption that due to the lack of rallies that year the attendance considerably exceeded the norm, although I've seen complaints about this for subsequent rallies. When it came time to leave it was obvious that the car park was going to take ages to clear so we went to the organisers office and enquired about the possibility of getting onto the camping field. They said that space was short and the traffic would make getting in difficult but with no prompting whatsoever invited us to overnight in the car park field which we and several other motorcaravans duly did. Clearly things can change from year to year, the GD attitude problem appears perennial however.

Apart from GDSF my only other "never again" so far was Selkirk. Old Glory listings showed it as Sat. and Sun. We followed the extensive signposting up a narrow lane along what was clearly the site of the show on Sat. morning, but were impatiently waved on by gents in orange tabards at everything which resembled an entrance. Finally came to a dead end and with some difficulty turned round in the narrow lane. Stopped at the first entrance and managed to stop the orange clad chap from waving us away long enough to enquire about access to the Caravan Club temporary site attached to the rally which we could see in the distance but all he would say was "You can't get in without a number". Ok, we thought, we'll go as day visitors and try to find out about the camping during the day. Back down past the various entrances again furiously waved away. When we got the the last one got hold of another orange tabard "Excuse me where is the public entrance please?" "Not open to public today."

Back at the main road there was a policeman directing rally traffic. We pointed out that the signposts were all advertising a rally which was not open to the public, he said there had been many complaints, police had contacted the "organisers" but they refused to amend the signs or admit the public. Turns out this show was oranised and staffed by the local council, which explains a lot.

Contrast to Scone which because of a similar listings cockup we also visited on what turned out to be setup day. The organisers cheerfully apologised for the mistake, charged us a reduced entrance fee and let us in. By the end of the day the show was more or less complete, all traders set up and doing buisness, the absence of ring events didn't bother us.

Some organisers have a clue, others don't.

Last year I had resolved to go to the Great Dorset this year and I'm not easily put off by reports. However, there is such a thing as measure and with tales of thievery, long distance walking, unfriendly organisation piling up, Hazel and I decided not to go even as visitors.

Wessex club all day crank up this Sunday - that's a must for me! Take an interesting engine, chat to your mates and home in time for tea. The only rule I've heard is "please turn your engine round away from the public as we once had a flywheel come off and it ran across the field and made a hole in the hedge".

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

I'd rather have a free bottle in front of me than a free frontal lobotomy!