Where you can actually stop
The rules on overnight parking are scattered, inconsistent, and widely misquoted. These are plain answers with the source and the date attached — including where the confident answer everybody repeats is wrong.
Can I stay here?
The 28-day rule for camping, and what replaced it
The rule everyone quotes for pop-up campsites in England has largely been superseded. What the current permitted development right actually allows, an…
Can I sleep in my motorhome in a car park?
It depends on the order attached to that car park, not on the signage you remember or what other vans are doing. How to tell, and what the words on th…
Wild camping in England and Wales
No, and the Dartmoor ruling everybody quotes does not change it. What the law actually gives you, why it excludes vehicles by name, and where you can …
Wild camping in Northern Ireland
No — and Northern Ireland is the strictest part of the UK, because there is no right-to-roam framework at all. What the law actually is, why English r…
Is wild camping legal in Scotland in a motorhome?
Scotland's right to roam is real, and it does not cover your motorhome. What the law actually says, and where you can legally stay instead.…
Clean Air Zones and your motorhome
Whether your motorhome is charged depends on its engine and its weight, and the weight is where people get caught. How to check before you drive in, n…
Scarborough North Bay and Sandsend: the overnight ban
Motorhomes and campervans cannot park between 11pm and 7am on parts of Scarborough's North Bay or the A174 at Sandsend. It began as an experiment…
Loch Lomond and the camping byelaws
From March to September, sleeping in a vehicle in the National Park's four management zones needs a permit — but laybys are exempt, because they …
Dartmoor
Wild camping on the Dartmoor Commons is a confirmed legal right — for people who arrive on foot or on horseback. What Darwall v Dartmoor decided, wher…
Types of place
Can I park overnight at the beach?
Seafront car parks are the most heavily restricted stops in Britain, and the restrictions are usually PSPOs rather than parking orders. Why that happe…
Forestry land
Forestry England, Forestry and Land Scotland, Natural Resources Wales and NI's Forest Service run the UK's biggest public estates — with bye…
Harbours and quaysides
Harbours are their own legal world: a statutory authority, its own byelaws, and a working quay that was never a car park. Also home to some of the bes…
Industrial estates
Truckers do it, vanlifers copy it, and the internet calls it a hack. What the position actually is on estate roads versus private yards, why HGV toler…
Can I sleep in a lay-by?
Often yes, sometimes emphatically not, and the difference is a sign. What governs lay-bys, why trunk roads differ from country lanes, and the safety j…
Can I stay overnight at motorway services?
Yes, almost everywhere, at a price. What the two-hour free period is for, what overnight costs a motorhome, and why the charge catches people who thou…
National Trust car parks
The Trust's car parks sit at exactly the places campers want to wake up — and overnight stays are not part of the deal. What the position actuall…
Park and ride
Big edge-of-town car parks with bus links look ideal for visiting a city by van. Most close overnight, many bar high vehicles at the entrance — and a …
Pub car parks
The most reliable legal overnight stop in the UK, because the landlord can simply say yes. How to ask, what the arrangement usually is, and why turnin…
Retail parks
Big, flat, lit and empty by 9pm — and almost always run by an ANPR operator with a time limit that does not sleep. Why retail parks are worse than sup…
Can I stay overnight in a supermarket car park?
Private land, so it is the owner's decision and enforcement is by parking charge rather than penalty. What the time limits mean, how ANPR works, …
Aires in the UK
The continental overnight stop — cheap, basic, self-contained — is slowly arriving in Britain. What an aire actually is, what to expect at a UK one, a…
The law, explained
You got a ticket. Now what?
Council penalty, private parking charge, or police fixed penalty — three different documents with different rules, different appeal routes and differe…
Experimental traffic orders
An ETO lets a council impose a parking restriction first and consult afterwards — which is exactly how sudden no-overnight rules arrive at popular spo…
Height barriers explained
Why car parks fit them, what the common heights are, how to measure your van properly, and what happens if you hit one.…
What is a byelaw?
The local law you have never read, made by councils, park authorities and landowning bodies — and one of the three instruments that genuinely decide w…
What is a PSPO?
Public Spaces Protection Orders are how some councils ban sleeping in vehicles. What they are, what breaching one costs, and the six-week window in wh…
What is a Traffic Regulation Order?
The legal instrument behind most overnight parking bans. What a TRO is, how to read one, how to find the one that applies to a car park, and what happ…
Routes
The NC500 in 7 days
Seven nights, clockwise from Inverness, routed for a vehicle over 6 metres. Real daily distances, where the driving is slow, and what you give up at t…
The NC500 in a motorhome
516 miles, two roads a large motorhome should avoid, and a route where how long you take is now a question of manners as well as enjoyment.…