They will be able to park where any car parks

Parking a motorhome in the center of a city It has been a lottery for years. And what was allowed in one municipality could mean a fine in the next one. However, the owners of this type of vehicle can sleep peacefully now, since the Government has approved a modification of the General Traffic Regulations that make these vehicles equal to other cars when parking on public roads. Below these lines we tell you what changes.

Consensus. Until now, each city council had room to treat motorhomes differently from other vehicles, prohibiting them from parking on certain streets or areas just because of their type. The reform, published in the Official State Gazette, eliminates that possibility. And the municipalities will no longer be able to veto the parking of a motorhome in a place where a conventional car is allowed to park. The sector’s employer, Aseicar, has rated the change as a historic step in the use of this type of vehicles in Spain.

In detail. The new text add a section to article 92 of the Regulation, which establishes three conditions for parking to be legal.

1. The motorhome cannot deploy any element that protrudes from its outer perimeter (no awnings, tables, chairs or extended steps).
2. It must remain supported only on the wheels, although the use of chocks or wedges to immobilize it is permitted.
3. And no fluid from the passenger compartment can be discharged to the outside.

By complying with these three points, no agent can sanction the vehicle for the simple fact of being a motorhome.

Between the lines. The key to all this reform is in a distinction that already existed and that is now reinforced: parking is not the same as camping. A tightly closed and undeployed vehicle is, for legal purposes, just another car parked on the street. On the other hand, removing tables, chairs or awnings turns that stop into a camping trip, something that is still prohibited outside the areas authorized for it and that can lead to fines of between 200 and 1,000 euros.

The town councils, furthermore, do not lose all their power. And they retain the ability to regulate schedules, rates or maximum parking times, but these rules must apply equally to all vehicles, without being able to specifically point out motorhomes and campers.

And now what. The reform will come into effect on October 1and comes in parallel to an instruction from the DGT that also updates other aspects linked to these vehicles, such as ITV deadlines. This change comes as a result of the fact that the caravan park is already around 365,000 units in Spain, with sustained growth in recent years, while specific areas for motorhomes have barely gone from 280 to 1,400 in the last two decades. Although this rule does not solve the deficit of camping areas that the country has, it does clear up the doubt about whether or not a motorhome can park in an area like any tourism would.

Cover image | Carl Tronders

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