Annoyed that I had a Witter detachable swan neck tow bar fitted and have now discovered, after towing it home, that the paint on the tow ball should be removed, otherwise the stabiliser pads become contaminated with paint from the tow ball. I would have thought that the least the fitter could do is say that the paint should be removed before towing. This is my first caravan so would know no better unless told.

I've never understood why the towbar fitters don't remove the paint as part of their fitting service. Generally a lowball cover comes with the towbar so there's little risk of rusting. But if you're fitting them day in day out you maybe forget the niceties. There are quite a few things in caravanning that are best read up about beforehand.

Ah, but a removable towball leads a more cossetted life in a nice dry bag in the car's boot. Having said all that, yesterday I moved my Yorkshire Spanner (lump hammer). It had spent two days in blazing weather sat on a plastic awning pole bag. No rain had got anywhere near it but the top face, where it had been in contact with the bag, was rusty all over and the bag had a rusty outline of the hammer on it. The hammer normally lives in the boot and shows no sign of rust.

I messaged the fitter and he said, leave it alone as it works fine.

Perhaps your towbar fitter isn't aware that you have a stabiliser fitted to the caravan's hitch.

You need to remove the paint from the ball to prevent contaminating the stabiliser pads as per Al-Ko's instructions:

I told him I had an Al-ko stabiliser.