‘Selfish’ tourists are ‘ruining’ seafront views for homeowners by parking their caravans in front of beach and ‘camping for free’
- Local residents of Seaford, East Sussex, have hit out against ‘rude’ tourists
- Claim visitors in campervans park on the seafront for days due to free parking
- Said they also leave litter ‘everywhere’, set bins on fire and vandalise benches
Local residents living in a seaside town blasted tourists who ‘do not treat the place with respect’ in a row over campervans taking up parking spaces on the beachfront.
Tourists visiting Seaford in East Sussex are facing the wrath of longtime residents who claim that caravans and big transit vehicles park on the seafront with families living in them ‘for days’.
They also claim that litter is left strewn around the town, benches are vandalised and bins are set on fire and are now calling on the council to do something about it.
Trev Homer and his wife Mary retired to Martello Mews in Seaford 18 years ago but said the situation has got ‘worse since lockdown’.
Residents of Seaford have hit out at campervans and caravans parking on the seafront and staying there ‘for days’ because of free parking
Craig Peachey, left, and Gaynor Tatnell, right, live in Seaford. Mr Peachey said day trippers ‘do not treat the place with respect’
Mr Homer said: ‘It’s the lack of respect. Most of them haven’t got two bob to rub together and they don’t spend any money in the town.
‘It’s got exponentially worse since lockdown and people haven’t been able to go abroad.
‘A lot of them are what I call stealth vehicles – converted Transit vans which people live in.’
His wife Mary said there was a problem with people coming in large campervans, parking on the side of the road and staying there ‘for days’.
Tim Robinson has been living in Seaford for a long time and said you get people visiting from London and other places who ‘don’t care about area’
She said: ‘They bring huge motor homes and live in them for days. I call it camping rather than parking because that’s what it is.’
‘You get some people who even camp on the beach,’ Mr Homer continued.
‘You get families who set up an encampment of two or three tents and just stay there for days.’
Martello Mews faces the seafront with panoramic views of the Channel and the Rampion wind farm, at the other end of the beach is a sewage treatment plant and Seaford Head.
Local residents have taken issue with campervans and caravans parking on the seafront
Seaford in East Sussex: Local residents living in the seaside town have blasted ‘rude’ tourists who park their campervans and block their spaces during the summer
Phil Rockwell, who also lives in the Mews, blasted tourists who he said only came for the ‘free parking’.
He said: ‘They don’t bring any money into the town.
‘They are coming here because it’s free parking so they don’t bring any benefit to the town at all and this is a lovely little town.
‘When I’ve asked about the parking regulations here, I get fobbed off by the council.
‘There are no parking regulations for that part of the sea front.
‘There are notices but they are only advisory.’
This was echoed by Craig Peachey, an NHS worker, who added: ‘Day trippers are attracted here by the lovely beach and the fact it is free parking but they do not treat the place with respect.’
Tim Robinson, a TV engineer and lifelong Seaford resident, said: ‘You get people flocking down from London and they really don’t care about the area.
‘They chuck their rubbish everywhere and park all over the place. It’s shocking.
Joan Rogers, 82, who lives on her own in a seafront flat, said: ‘I wish the council would stop the bigger vehicles parking up because it really does have an impact on this road.
‘There are a lot of owners who don’t live here but rent their homes out to holidaymakers and that is the problem.
‘If they lived here then they would care about what goes on here.’
Another resident Barbara Edwards, 69, said: ‘I think the free parking is lovely because so you have to pay through the nose wherever you go these days.
‘It’s just such a shame people can’t respect things a little more.’
Meanwhile, William Dennis, 72, said his drive was often blocked by ‘inconsiderate tourists who have no respect for the people who live here.’
‘The park where they want, drop litter and and generally rude. The council needs to do something about it,’ he warned.
Seaford Town Council has been contacted for a comment.
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