It’s not often that caravan stories make prime time television, so you can imagine our delight at Caravan Times when the BBC One flagship programme The One Show decided to make caravans their feature yesterday. Most notable of all was the closing segment where popular presenter Christine Bleakley was featured in a contest against her co-anchor Matt Allwright to see who could successfully reverse a caravan.
The magazine programme began the item with former Countdown presenter Carol Vorderman as their very own roving reporter to investigate the caravan phenomenon. With the recession thousands more caravan campers are set to take to the road this summer, and the One Show was on hand to dispense some useful advice for first-timers.
Vorderman quoted a disquieting statistic: last year there were 160 caravan accidents, an average of one every two days. With this in mind she spoke to Tim Booth of the National Caravan Council to garner some caravan safety tips.
He offered five facts about caravanning to get you started. Firstly, almost anyone with a driving licence can get started with the hobby. Secondly, he warned drivers of the risk of bald tyres on their caravans and the importance of checking them. Thirdly, heavy items should be loaded correctly, placed low down and close to the axle. Fourth was the importance of extension mirrors, required by law. And lastly, Booth told viewers to simply enjoy caravanning!
The main feature of Vorderman’s study however was the unwelcome but common occurance of “trailer sway”. Otherwise known as “snaking”, the BBC prepared a caravan loaded incorrectly in order to demonstrate the dangers. Stunt driver Alistair Moffat was on hand and deliberately drove the caravan and trailer comibination to 40 mph and “just the point before jacknifing”. Moffat warned against the common practice of increasing speed to combat the force of this sway, and suggested that keeping the caravan straight and easing off the gas was the best method.
The climax of the shower however was Christine Bleakley versus Matt Allwright in the caravan reversing challenge. It took place in the car park of Television Centre in White City and Allwright had difficulty locating reverse gear before parking successfully within a inch of knocking over the cones. Bleakley also struggled initially, at one point exclaiming “I don’t know what way I’m going now!” as she adjusted to the mechanics of reversing a trailer. However she too finished triumphantly to end the show on a high note.
Click here to watch the episode of The One Show (originally broadcast Wednesday 12th May 2010)
