Never mind - I just read that campervan life article and "Body Type" is the important one. No wuckers.
I can't say I have EVER been asked details of the interior by my insurers. I've told them it is a VW Type 2 Motor Caravan and that seems acceptable to them. I have never heard of all these 'conditions'. Mine is a Motor Caravan on V5 and it has bed / cooker / sink so I am not worried but these 'conditions' do seem a bit un necessary.
It wasn't Hyde park it was Windsor royal park- sorry. This is the outline of why and when. it is all I have to hand a I read this in a book about camper vans and can't find it now. so a copy and paste job from another site is all I can give you. All motor vehicles brought in the UK at the time were subject to purchase tax, but motorhomes where considered exempt Apparently, the regulations at the time suggested that in order to satisfy the label motorhome, all the internal fittings had to be permanent. Indeed, it was even stated that the vehicle needed to have a dining area, beds, a cooker, a wardrobe and water carrying equipment. These rules also stated that the VW Transporter was a commercial vehicle and because of this it was restricted to 30mph and was also subject to purchase tax. Pitt had got around the ˜fitting issue by designing the Open Plan conversion in 1956, which then became the de-facto conversion in the 1960s. However, he still had to convince the authorities that the Volkswagen Transporter; once converted should be classed as a motorhome. He did this by intentionally driving his vehicle to the Royal Park in Windsor which had a ban on commercial vehicles. He was subsequently arrested and the resulting court case ruled that Pittâ motorhome was not a commercial vehicle. No purchase tax and the VW could be driven at more than 30 miles an hour in one hit fantastic. The bloke across the road could own the actual van, it is very possible. You could probably find out more by googling it.
they're all full of it. I've registered mine as it left the factory, as a microbus, 9 seater, yet it only has 6 seats in it at the moment. Its insured as a 9 seater, gets me congestion charge immunity My 74 microbus with a westy interior is on the log book as a campervan, and is insured as such. My doka is insured as a 6 seater pickup. it pays to be 'vague' when dealing with insurance companies as too much info will always come back to bite you
there's a statutory list of fittings and fixtures that a vehicle must have, if it's to be deemed a 'camping vehicle' for insurance purposes....this includes water storage, cooking facility, table (that can be fixed in place) a bed (fixed/convertible) of a certain size, fixed storage space, plus other sh*te......stops somebody buying a van, throwing in a sleeping bag, cool box and calor stove and qualifying for cheaper insurance
The only insurance company that ever got strict with these so called "conditions" for being a camper was Footman James, (they refused to quote for insurance because I don't have a sink and fixed water storage - they have a whole list of things you MUST have or they won't insure you) and they can go whistle because there's plenty of other companies that will insure me...... Every other company I have used is happy that there's a bed, cupboards and a cooker in it. It's a camper.
I think Peter Pitt died in 1969 I am not sure when he drove on to Windsor park, but I am sure it was in a splitscreen camper. His importance in the future manufacture of campervans cannot be overstated both in design and legislation. He was Australian btw.
My 7 seater microbus is registered as a motor caravan on my v5. As joker said earlier it pays to be vague sometimes
