L4: Horrendous Consequences

Motorhomers hit problems with horrendous consequences

Andrew and Phillip splashed out thousands of pounds on their dream motorhome a couple of years ago.

They were on their way home on {Schengen} day 80 and stopped for lunch. Whilst using a pedestrian crossing they were hit by a car. Both were taken to hospital. Andrew was discharged after a day (day 81) but Phillip was badly bruised and unable to walk. Andrew worried about the Schengen limit especially as he had other day trips to Germany scheduled. Andrew decided to stay with Phillip until he was fit to travel. They returned to the UK on day 92, they had both exceeded the Schengen limit. They were glad to be home but as they were to find out later, this was just the beginning of the end.

• Andrew returned to work later than planned and then had to tell his boss that he could not make any short-notice business trips because he needed to sort out his overstay first otherwise he would be denied entry. Things were never quite the same!

• Phillip had a couple of minor offenses against his name that were not yet spent. Due to his Schengen overstay he found that he had to apply for a visa for each country he wished to visit. This would make their free-ranging summer trips almost impossible.

Andrew and Peter sold their dream motorhome at a big loss.

The government could have avoided these type of consequences had it negotiated win-win 180/360 travel arrangements