Legal stopovers

Went to Bedford this weekend for a major universities Athletics meeting.
Stayed at a nice caravan club site at Cherry Hinton. But this was an hours drive away.
My understanding is that i can stop on a motorawy services overnight as long as i pay the overnight fee.
But where else can i legally stop overnight?
At the side of the road? In a layby?On a verge? In a pub carpark?
Anybody know?

Stictly speaking standard layby's are a no no, as are verges. Places like pub car parks are down to the owners descrection, if you ask permition then you are fine.
There are some layby's that are set well off the road that you will find people stopping in overnight, we have stopped in these quite often. It really is a case of finding somewhere quiet and chancing your arm! If you do get spoken to by the 'old bill', just grovel and say you had to stop as you were so tired!!!

Check this link out... http://www.wildcamping.co.uk/

There are some camper stop overs in the UK but nowhere near as many as on mainland europe - we found this web site from a french camer magazine it lists most of the legal british stopovers

http://www.ukmotorhomes.net/uk-motorhome-stopovers.shtml

We've just returned from a trip to the far north of Scotland, which involved more driving than could easily be done in a day. The research that we'd managed to do indicated that stopping over in the laybys on the A9 north of Perth seems to be tolerated as there are no traditional service areas on the route.

However, many of the A9 laybys are extremely close to the road itself, meaning that every time something big goes past, you get rocked from side to side in a disconcerting way!

A small number are further back from the main carriageway, with "islands" separating them from the tarmac. If anyone is heading that way in future, here's the list of their numbers:

NORTHBOUND FROM PERTH

41 - North of Pitlochry
56 - close to Tummel Bridge turn
81 - by Drumochter summit
83 - after Highland Council boundary
87 - before turning for Dalwhinnie
97 - north of Dalwhinnie turn
100 - north of Dalwhinnie turn
113 - near Kingussie
125 - near Kincraig
157 - on dual section after Slochd summit
160A - close to Tomatin turn
168 - between Moy and Daviot

SOUTHBOUND FROM INVERNESS

184 - near Culloden turn
171 - between Moy and Daviot
160 - near Tomatin turn
152 - before Slochd summit
149 - just before Carrbridge turn
117 - just before A86 turn
106 - by Newtownmore turn
96A - north of Dalwhinnie turn
90 - close to Dalwhinnie turn
82 - by Drumochter summit
42 - north of Pitlochry
34 - north of Aberfeldy turn (A827)
20 - north of Dunkeld turn (A923)

Have fun,

W/C

Good web sites to find places to stay. Dont forget it's also about where you feel safe and not likely to upset anyone else like locals ... Tonnes of places all over the uk and Europe if you do a little research . We usually do a rough plan before we set off

Thats the joy and freedom our bays offer.....Just drive off and the adventure begins