Lots of holiday park customers object to their caravans being moved and understandably so. Unsecured belongings could be damaged, not to mention concerns about caravan itself, where will it be moved to, for how long and whether it can be used in the meantime.

Many agreements for holiday use limit the circumstances in which a park owner can move a caravan, but usually one of the permitted reasons is in the case of emergency. Moving a caravan where there is not an emergency could be a breach of contract which could result in a park owner being pursued in the courts and potentially having to pay damages to the customer.

The question can often be, "what is an emergency"?

"Emergency" is not usually defined in agreements for stationing caravans which means that there are no hard-and-fast rules. Park owners (and customers) will have to think about their exact situation and the facts.

Emergencies could be, for example, serious flooding (such as that occurring in Gloucestershire in 2007), fire, or where there is imminent risk of landslip (such as that which occurred on a site near Barry in South Wales last week - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-15588279.)

Emergencies would not generally be, for example, where a base is damaged (although there could be circumstances where that had occurred because of something very serious such as a landslip or other problems with the land), or where a caravan is breaching a term of the site licence. There are usually other ways of dealing with those kinds of problems without moving a home by using the "emergency" clause.

Of course, the each situation will be different and whilst we can paint a broad-brush picture of this potentially serious topic, without exact facts about any particular case we can't give any definitive answers about whether what a park owner faces is an "emergency". The final point we would make is that park owners have a responsibility to ensure the safety of those using the park and that is paramount – sometimes that may mean moving caravans but sometimes it may mean taking action even before that to make the area safe to prevent injury to people or property.

If you think you need to move a caravan, and are uncertain as to whether that need is "an emergency", or whether your agreement covers you to move the caravan at all then please do get in touch with us – we're specialists in advising on all aspects of park home and holiday park law, and we can help you get this right. Contact us on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  or on 01392 207020.