Locals claim motorhomes and campervans are blatantly ignoring the risk of a £50 fine for parking on a Gwynedd beach because they know it won't happen. The vehicles are routinely parking on Black Rock Sands, say residents in Morfa Bychan, near Porthmadog, who say they are fed up with it.
A gate was installed on the beach entry road in 2018, and there is a sign warning of £50 fixed penalty notices 'as damages for trespass'. Gwynedd Council took the action to try to curb the activities of overnight campers amid claims motorhome toilets were being emptied in the dunes, a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
More than 150 vehicles were said to be being parked on the beach overnight, posing a health and safety issue. But despite the issue, a Freedom of Information request has confirmed that not a single fine has ever been issued to anyone breaking the rules there. And despite the fact overnighting numbers have since fallen, there were 62 motorhomes and tents pitched up on the beach on the August Bank Holiday Monday. You can get more local news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
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“Some weekends there can be 40 or 50 campervans, motorhomes and tents on the beach,” a 43-year-old local resident who did not wish to be named, told North Wales Live. "Surely they can’t all be taking a chance and hoping not to be fined? Six days out of seven I’m on the beach at 6am and some days it’s alarming to see just how many vehicles are parked up there.”
Although the beach gate is locked during the tourism season at 8pm, residents claim scores of vehicles remain on the sand knowing they won’t be penalised. To see if this was the case, the resident fired off an FoI request to North Wales Police asking how many fines had been issued.
She received the following reply: “In terms of fixed penalty notices for remaining on the beach at Morfa Bychan overnight, we confirm that no fixed penalty notices have been issued. This area is not an area defined under an Order that permits the issuing of Fixed Penalty Notices.”
Black Rock Sands is a wide beach that’s noted for its fine sand, low-tide caves and marine life. Unusually, motorists can drive onto the beach, making it a popular spot not just for picnickers, motorhome owners and boat users. For those who choose to ignore warning signs, peril awaits: in April a motorhome was rescued by a tractor after getting caught out by the tide. And in September, 2020, a pink VW Camper and a van were swamped by the incoming tide.
From 7pm each day, a vehicle drives along the three-mile beach with a tannoy message every 15 minutes asking people to leave, and warning the gate shuts at 8pm. In peak season, people invariably leave it too late.
“On busy days, the queues to get off the beach are lengthy and sometimes we still see visitors driving past our house at 9pm,” said the resident. “Presumably the young adults who shut the gate must wait until everyone gets off the beach. However some people deliberately stay behind and nothing ever gets done about it.
“If I was trying to run a campsite business I would be pretty annoyed knowing the council was letting campervans stay for free on the beach. There’s also the safety issue – how would emergency vehicles get to the beach at night if something happens to the campers and the gates are locked? There’s been lots of discussion about it on local online forums.”
North Wales Police periodically cracks down on boy racers committing anti-social driving offences on beach. Earlier this year, officers from the Porthmadog policing team issued 10 Section 59 Notices to drivers and warned others they risked having their cars seized.
Residents also get irked by vehicles queuing to buy their tickets to park on the beach. The entrance road has been coned off with no parking signs but it remains a bottleneck for motorists trying to enter or exit the beach. “There’s nowhere else to park in Morfa Bychan,” said the resident. “On busy days the queues to get to the beach can stretch two miles. Having been caught out once, when it took me three hours to get back from Tesco, I now know to plan ahead when it’s likely to be busy.”
Gwynedd Council was approached for a comment by North Wales Live about its parking policies at the beach, and whether it had any plans to invest beach revenues in improved facilities. The local authority has secured funding for six French style ‘aires’ for motorhomes ("Aros-fan") within walking distance of town centres across the county. These are expected to be operational by next spring. Issues with motorhome parking have also been experienced further down the coast in Barmouth recently.
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