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Right hand drive campervan uk , what side should slider door be to be legal ?

Little owl1963

Little owl1963

Messages
140
Location
Walsall West Midlands
Vehicle
T6.1 Ocean 150
Just been informed that my new cali T6.1 the door is on wrong side for the uk , its right hand drive vehicle an the slider door is also on right hand side is this correct for the uk ??

Also been informed you are only allowed to park legally on the left hand side of any road except for a one way street ??
so if you park on left side , that would mean slider door faces into main road .

Are all volkswagen campers uk have the slider door on right side instead of left side ?
 
Little owl1963 said:
Just been informed that my new cali T6.1 the door is on wrong side for the uk , its right hand drive vehicle an the slider door is also on right hand side is this correct for the uk ??

Also been informed you are only allowed to park legally on the left hand side of any road except for a one way street ??
so if you park on left side , that would mean slider door faces into main road .

Are all volkswagen campers uk have the slider door on right side instead of left side ?
Click to expand...
Yes that’s standard.
Never heard of only being legal to park on the left side of the street. We park in car parks more than on the road. The sliding door makes getting out of the van in tight spaces far easier.
 
They are all that way for Californias. A conversation would normally have the door on the left because most vans are built that way for the Uk, but Californias are all right hand door, I assume so that they don't have to build two different interiors.

I would be absolutely amazed if there are any rules about what side of the road you can park - never heard of such a thing - who told you this?
 
As far as I know there are no rules in the UK but I believe it is not possible to register a motor home (camping car) in France with a habitation door on the left side of the vehicle.
We here in the UK are lucky in that vehicles can still be legal if equipped as originally produced with the exception of....
  1. the old dip lights system where one dipped down and one went out, these had to be changed to both dipping,
  2. Windscreen washers are needed except on vehicles with opening windscreens.
Trafficators (semaphore) signals are still legal (flashers are not required) as is one brake light either in the centre or right side of the rear if fitted originally on the vehicle when manufactured.
 
Little owl1963 said:
Just been informed that my new cali T6.1 the door is on wrong side for the uk , its right hand drive vehicle an the slider door is also on right hand side is this correct for the uk ??

Also been informed you are only allowed to park legally on the left hand side of any road except for a one way street ??
so if you park on left side , that would mean slider door faces into main road .

Are all volkswagen campers uk have the slider door on right side instead of left side ?
Click to expand...
Who informed you ? The only time you may have a problem with the sliding door being on the R/H side is on CAMC camp sites.
 
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It’s more to do with parking at night; If you park with sliding door pavement side, your van will will be facing the oncoming traffic flow, so will potentially blind oncoming traffic when pulling out.

It’s in the Highway Code - rule 248, but rarely (if ever) enforced…so wouldn’t worry.
 
Ch1pbutty said:
It’s more to do with parking at night; If you park with sliding door pavement side, your van will will be facing the oncoming traffic flow, so will potentially blind oncoming traffic when pulling out.

It’s in the Highway Code - rule 248, but rarely (if ever) enforced…so wouldn’t worry.
Click to expand...
It's probably also because cars don't have white reflectors at the front (other than the numberplate) whereas the rear has reflectors which can make a parked car more obvious on an unlit road. I suspect it's also connected with Rule 249 as in the UK we generally expect to see red lights on the left and white lights for oncoming vehicles; white lights on the left has the potential to confuse again if in an unlit environment.

1691734489594.png
 
Little owl1963 said:
Just been informed that my new cali T6.1 the door is on wrong side for the uk , its right hand drive vehicle an the slider door is also on right hand side is this correct for the uk ??

Also been informed you are only allowed to park legally on the left hand side of any road except for a one way street ??
so if you park on left side , that would mean slider door faces into main road .

Are all volkswagen campers uk have the slider door on right side instead of left side ?
Click to expand...
Care to say who this font of mis-information is?
 
RockinNRollin said:
It's probably also because cars don't have white reflectors at the front (other than the numberplate) whereas the rear has reflectors which can make a parked car more obvious on an unlit road. I suspect it's also connected with Rule 249 as in the UK we generally expect to see red lights on the left and white lights for oncoming vehicles; white lights on the left has the potential to confuse again if in an unlit environment.

View attachment 112831
Click to expand...
Thanks for that info. I thought thought those rules had been relaxed, time to read the Highway Code again I guess. It's amazing the things you find out via the forum.
 
Parking on wrong side is an interesting one. We live on an unlit very rural village street, with 30 speed limit all with drives able to park at least 3 cars or more, For a couple of years when neighbours had visitors he would often park his Saab right outside facing the wrong way with no lights on. The road is narrow so cars slow down to pass. One autumn evening there was an almighty bang outside and a huge tractor with 20 ton trailer loaded had hit his car; totally written off but thankfully no-one hurt at all. The tractor was travelling along the road with car coming towards it with lights on and tractor simply didn't see the car as no reflectors or lights due to oncoming car. Police came and all blamed on tractor and insurance paid up - nothing said about car being parked wrong way round even though breaking the law!!!! Crazy
 
SusiBus said:
Thanks for that info. I thought thought those rules had been relaxed, time to read the Highway Code again I guess. It's amazing the things you find out via the forum.
Click to expand...
It’s not enforced, so wouldn’t worry too much. Unless you pull out at night and hit oncoming vehicle, then the other insurers might use it against you…but still unlikely.
 
vmaxkiddy said:
Who informed you ? The only time you may have a problem with the sliding door being on the R/H side is on CAMC camp sites.
Click to expand...
I think CAMC are now flexible regarding allowing you to pitch nose in or out, so allowing you to position your door away from the adjacent pitches door.
There was a private site (Near Blackpool I think) that was very strict and basically banned all whose doors were on the right, so very few visitors from over the channel!
 
I've never been told to face specific direction only position of van and that was on Kintyre at Carradale site - he was anal about distance from post - perhaps I pi55ed him off when I got my tape measure out toget it spot on!!!
 
Ch1pbutty said:
It’s more to do with parking at night; If you park with sliding door pavement side, your van will will be facing the oncoming traffic flow, so will potentially blind oncoming traffic when pulling out.

It’s in the Highway Code - rule 248, but rarely (if ever) enforced…so wouldn’t worry.
Click to expand...
Yep, parking on the right at night (when the street lighting comes on) is an offence if on a road without recognised parking area, so pretty redundant now nearly all roads will have either markings for parking or yellow lines. not really an issue because traffic wardens don’t work in the dark and a police officer would only put a ticket on a ‘targeted’ vehicle-so if your not a drug dealer you should be fine
 
soulstyledevon said:
Having had sliding doors on both sides of my vans. I actually prefer the slider on the drivers side.
Saves having to walk around the vehicle all the time.
Click to expand...
I prefer this too. My van gets parked close to house so I have easy access on one side. Makes sense for that to be driver door and sliding door, otherwise I’d have to keep climbing across.
 
I’ve never understood all the angst about the door being on the wrong side. Every other car in the Uk has doors opening roadside. As a kid I never slid over to exit the car pavement side and I don’t do that as a driver now!! Sliding door much safer than all these cars on the road with normal doors both sides when people open them without looking into the path of a cyclist. Also agree with @soulstyledevon that it is more practical to have the sliding door on the drivers side when you’re using the van as a daily driver.
 
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The one issue I do have with the layout is that it is much more difficult to turn the drivers seat around when camping so you end up just turning the passenger seat which is sub optimal in terms of the rear space.
 
Norfolk Jim said:
I've never been told to face specific direction only position of van and that was on Kintyre at Carradale site - he was anal about distance from post - perhaps I pi55ed him off when I got my tape measure out toget it spot on!!!
Click to expand...
Strange - You must have wound Clive up somehow. Thats one of the most laid back sites we've been to ( unless you put blue toilet fluid in his septic tank!!!).
 
andyinluton said:
Strange - You must have wound Clive up somehow. Thats one of the most laid back sites we've been to ( unless you put blue toilet fluid in his septic tank!!!).
Click to expand...
No - didn't do anything wrong and no porta potti, we used the facilities - I think it was a bad day for him plus we were not members then which may influence him.................nice site all the same but it was very full and we were plonled right over at the back away from the beach. Torturous road up to the ferry though!!!
 
BigJohn said:
They are all that way for Californias. A conversation would normally have the door on the left because most vans are built that way for the Uk, but Californias are all right hand door, I assume so that they don't have to build two different interiors.

I would be absolutely amazed if there are any rules about what side of the road you can park - never heard of such a thing - who told you this?
Click to expand...
He may be referring to facing the direction of traffic, which I don't when I want to get out onto the pavement. It may be a legal requirement at night though.
 
Maybe someone's getting confused with the US? I thought it was illegal to park facing into the flow of traffic and a quick Google seems to suggest that is the case (disclaimer: the internet is full of lies). I did also end up on a page about Alternate Side Parking, where the permitted side of the road changes according to what day it is or in some cases the house numbering. Seems to quickly get mind-bogglingly complicated

Alternate-side parking - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
Okay so here’s the law relating to parking near side to kerb (i.e. facing the wrong way) other than in a one-way street.
It’s actually illegal to park on any road at night without showing ‘position lights’ unless it’s a restricted road and the vehicle is near side to the kerb (that is facing the way of traffic flow). In effect if you have a trailer, caravan etc or are a large vehicle or outside of a restricted road then this exemption won’t apply.
The law gets really complicated with definitions of restricted road (30mph/street lamps less than 200m apart) and definitions of large passenger vehicles etc.
The whole rationale is so that rear red reflectors face oncoming traffic.
In short don’t be confused, your vehicle RHD/LHD can park against the kerb in town without lights. There is no legislation covering parking facing whatever way other than that.
As for prosecution, that won’t happen now unless of course an accident happens and you have a very wide vehicle sticking out which a cyclist ploughs into for example.
 
Don't park against the flow of traffic in Germany, its an offence and
traffic wardens will happily give you a ticket.
It may seem a bit over the top to some but it makes sense and I like it, its orderly.
I realised years ago that when I drive in the UK I cannot rely on parked cars to
give me a clue as to which side of the road I should be on.

Big long drives, everything is good, wake up in a country that drives on the other side,
have breakfast, drive off and say, hang on, which side should I be on.
Or is it just me.
 
Little owl1963 said:
Just been informed that my new cali T6.1 the door is on wrong side for the uk , its right hand drive vehicle an the slider door is also on right hand side is this correct for the uk ??

Also been informed you are only allowed to park legally on the left hand side of any road except for a one way street ??
so if you park on left side , that would mean slider door faces into main road .

Are all volkswagen campers uk have the slider door on right side instead of left side ?
Click to expand...
The law has always existed that you need to park on the LHS. Lucky the coppers don't bother fining people anymore for parking incorrectly.
The sliding door has always been on the RHS.
 
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