Before I create an uproar, I am thinking not of drivers of caravans and motorhomes with years of experience but of the increasing hire trade, particularly of motorhomes as opposed to campervans.
It is the hirers that seem to have no concept of the size (width and length) of the vehicle they've taken on holiday and many simply cannot reverse them.
I'm the first to admit that large motorhomes and the attitude of their drivers annoy me and many of my fellows when their inability and unwillingness to reverse on our singe track roads causes havoc and costs locals a lot of time and money and occasionally delayed medical emergency vehicles, but when it has been raised by the emergency services on the mainland as a problem, it's not just me and fellow islanders having a go.
If we, in a car, baulked an emergency service vehicle on blues and twos because of incompetency with driving our vehicles, we would be condemned, correctly, so why doesn't it work with holidaymakers in a hire vehicle. When I've hired a car, I've asked and gone through a vehicle check of controls and then sat in the car park for half an hour making certain I know without checking where those controls are and I also check things like braking and clutch - most cars are smaller than the one I drive but still check with parking spaces.
Nobody would deny people the right to explore and find out if this lifestyle would suite them, but surely, they should get some training to drive the things on the road?
It is the hirers that seem to have no concept of the size (width and length) of the vehicle they've taken on holiday and many simply cannot reverse them.
I'm the first to admit that large motorhomes and the attitude of their drivers annoy me and many of my fellows when their inability and unwillingness to reverse on our singe track roads causes havoc and costs locals a lot of time and money and occasionally delayed medical emergency vehicles, but when it has been raised by the emergency services on the mainland as a problem, it's not just me and fellow islanders having a go.
If we, in a car, baulked an emergency service vehicle on blues and twos because of incompetency with driving our vehicles, we would be condemned, correctly, so why doesn't it work with holidaymakers in a hire vehicle. When I've hired a car, I've asked and gone through a vehicle check of controls and then sat in the car park for half an hour making certain I know without checking where those controls are and I also check things like braking and clutch - most cars are smaller than the one I drive but still check with parking spaces.
Nobody would deny people the right to explore and find out if this lifestyle would suite them, but surely, they should get some training to drive the things on the road?