In the dead of a British winter, there’s probably nothing better than letting your mind wander towards those balmy spring and summer days in your caravan.
With that in mind, here are some of the latest snippets of news to hit the caravanning headlines.
New rules for towing a trailer with a car from 16 December 2021
Delayed since the originally anticipated date in November, on the 16th of December the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) put into effect changes to the rules on towing a caravan.
The new rules affect only those driving licence holders who passed their test after the 1st of January 1997. If you passed your test before that date, you can typically drive a car – or indeed any other vehicle – with a trailer (including a caravan) with a combined Maximum Authorised Mass (MAM) of up to 8,250kg. View your driving licence information to check.
The latest changes simplify the rules in what is a fairly minor way. With effect from the 16th of December 2021, if you passed your driving test after the 1st of January 1997, you can tow any caravan with a MAM of up to 3,500kg.
If you passed your test after 1st January 1997, you don’t need to do anything. The DVLA will update your driving licence record to show that you’re allowed to tow trailers. You do not need to contact DVLA for this to happen. You’ll get category BE automatically added to your driving licence when you next apply to get a new driving licence.
The UK’s best caravanning site named
According to The Express newspaper recently, the top three caravanning sites in the UK during the colder months are:
- in first place, the Canterbury Camping and Caravanning Club Site, near the city of Canterbury, in Kent;
- the Caravan and Motorhome’s Cherry Hinton site – some three miles from the centre of Cambridge – came in second place; and
- in third place, the Caravan and Motorhome’s Club Site in Brighton, West Sussex.
Canterbury’s site was quoted as “an ideal base for visiting Kent” and has the attraction of its UNESCO World Heritage city centre, while over 400 winter attractions are available to caravanners staying in Cambridge. Brighton had the sunniest winter weather of all the campsites across the UK.
Scottish Caravan, Motorhome and Holiday Home Show 2022 cancelled
Practical Caravan magazine announced on the 22nd of December the cancellation of the Scottish Caravan, Motorhome, and Holiday Home show that was to have been held from the 3rd to the 6th of February in Glasgow’s Scottish Exhibition Centre (SEC).
The organisers have nevertheless confirmed their intention of staging Scotland’s biggest such exhibition in 2023.
Latest update on The Caravan and Motorhome Club’s Wi-Fi improvement project
Pandemics may come and lockdowns may go but the Caravan and Motorhome Club’s project to improve Wi-Fi provision at its club sites continued apace during 2021, according to a press release on the 29th of December.
Faster connection speeds and enhanced, more reliable Wi-Fi provision has already been achieved through the upgrading of 60 caravanning sites – with the ultimate goal of completing similar upgrades for one hundred of the club’s sites.