When we subsequently realised what these security devices looked like (above right), we were just horrified. Yes, horrified, and the term is very weak. Let us explain.

The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea (RBKC) introduced a couple of years ago a parking charge for their residents, justified by the provision of dedicated bays equipped with exactly the same security devices as the ones recently installed in Camden. Those security devices were (and still are) solely used as an excuse to charge their resident motorcyclists for parking, in a view to filling up the council’s coffers. So, can we assume that Camden are making plans to stealth tax motorcyclists for parking with their newly installed security devices?

Empty residents' bay equipped with ground anchors in the RBKC

Anyway, that’s not it. Take up of these ground anchors in the RBKC has been extremely low if not totally inexistent, which suggests that this type of security device is not popular at all with motorcyclists, to say the least. Of course they’re not popular because you’ve got to lift up a dirty handle at ground level, covered in dust, rain water, ice, and so on, with your hands, which, as a result, become as dirty as the handle itself. You’ve also got to carry a chain to use these security devices, which is heavy, and becomes as dirty as the device. Because of these worse than useless security devices, resident motorcyclists refuse to pay to use them, making the parking bays dedicated to them constantly empty and forcing all bikers to park their machines like sardines in free visitor bays, when they’re lucky enough to find a space within reasonable walking distance to their destination.

Now, we have found out that Westminster Council have also bought 200 of these unpopular and useless ground anchors, in a desparate last minute attempt to justify their motorcycle parking tax. It is obviously a lot more important to Westminster Councillor Chalkley to keep the employees and shareholders of his pay by phone parking supplier (Verrus UK Ltd) wealthy, by paying them 8 pence for every pound collected from parking transactions, than have the decency to consult motorcyclists, before wasting their money in purchasing useless security devices. After all, why is he worried about wasting more than £41,000 worth of taxpayers’ money (excluding installation costs) in those useless ground anchors, if this can (in his own dreams) help to push through his motorcycle parking tax, which brings in millions of pounds per annum?

And now it’s the turn of Camden Borough Council to buy and install this rubbish. Who is next at wasting thousands of taxpayers’ money?

Let’s not forget that all three councils, Westminster, Camden and the RBKC, are members of the Partnerships in Parking scheme, established by Westminster’s former Director of Parking, Alastair Gilchrist, in order to harmonise parking regulations across London. What was a very good idea in the first place seems to be seriously lacking of communication and consultation between members of the scheme, and we have here a great example to illustrate this. What the hell are these guys talking about during their quarterly meetings? Well, let’s at least hope that they’re talking about the 150 pages document, prepared by the No To Bike Parking Tax campaign, in which it is explained how Westminster City Council wasted some £675,000 of taxpayers’ money in setting up a scheme that could well turn out to be illegal (download a copy of the document here for more information).

Sources (click to view):-

Purchase of 200 security devices by Westminster Council

Installation of motorcycle security devices in Camden

8 pence for every pound paid to Verrus UK Ltd

Further reading (click to view):-

Bikers are getting angry at the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea

Kensington & Chelsea are having a taste of Westminster’s defaced bike parking signs

Residents’ bike parking bays in Kensington & Chelsea continue to be defaced

Please join and support the campaign to stop Westminster Council from stealth taxing motorcyclists to park before their scheme spreads all over the UK and the rest of Europe. For further details, visit http://www.notobikeparkingtax.com/

Rejoignez le groupe de manifestants contre le stationnement payant des motocyclistes a Westminster avant que cela ne se propage dans le reste du Royaume-Uni et l’Union Europeenne. Pour plus d’informations, consultez http://www.notobikeparkingtax.com/

If you have a story you would like to see published on UK France Bikers.com, please contact us here.

Si vous avez une experience a partager et que vous souhaiteriez voir publiee sur UK France Bikers.com, n’hesitez pas a nous contacter en cliquant ici.

Camden Borough Council is a member of the Westminster lead Partnerships in Parking consortium (PiP), for which the implementation and running are currently under investigation by the European Commissioners for potential serious breach of European Union law. Camden have advised that they will start to trial the pay-by-phone parking technology between January and March 2010. But will they be doing this through the potentially illegal PiP scheme, whereby they will be trialling the rubbish Verrus pay-by-phone parking system already implemented in Westminster and under investigation by the European Commission, or will they be going their own way to conduct their trial?

We have actually found out that Camden are silly enough to even consider pay & display tickets for motorcycle parking, as a proof of payment. As if pay & display tickets for motorcycles had not already been trialled by other councils throughout the United Kingdom and proved totally useless and unpractical, as they fly away with the wind, get wet in the rain and are subject to theft. Even Westminster Councillor Danny Chalkley had proved to be a little bit more intelligent by not even trying to charge bikes for parking with this method.

Anyway, we seriously think that Camden Council have absolutely no idea of what’s coming their way, should they even pronounce the words “charging motorcyclists for parking” in their borough, whatever the method(s) they use. Bikers in support of the No To Bike Parking Tax campaign are most likely prepared to request copies of Camden’s accounts, affairs, documents, policies etc (via Freedom of Information requests) to scrutinise them in deep detail and report anything found wrong in them to the relevant authorities for investigation. That’s exactly what has been done in the case of Westminster City Council, for which their parking strategy and their PiP scheme are now being investigated by the European Commission and a public inquiry made to the Department of Communities & Local Government (DCLG), as a result of Councillor Danny Chalkley imposing an unwanted parking tax on motorcyclists.

Not to mention the hundreds of Freedom of Information requests that will be submitted to Camden Council, in exactly the same way as to Westminster Council, which have obliged them to recruit additional staff to cope with the enormous volume of work.

Camden will also see thousands of angry bikers demonstrating in their streets and at their doorstep every three to four weeks.

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Bikers demonstration outside Westminster City Hall

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And some guys (independent from the No To Bike Parking Tax campaign) might dress up as Blanche Neige and deface the Camden bike parking signs, in the same way as they did in Westminster, costing them circa £220,000 to clean or replace!

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Defaced bike parking sign in Westminster. Do Camden really want the same?

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And let’s not forget the thousands of emails, letters and objections that Westminster City Council have received over the past 16 months, which Camden will see coming their way too.

Do Camden Council really want to go through the same nightmare as Westminster City Council? Bikers are now very experienced at protecting their rights and freedom, any council trying to bring in a parking stealth tax to fill up their coffers will, without a doubt, see the No To Bike Parking Tax campaign coming their way, like a tropical storm with black and thick clouds can cover a whole area in a few minutes and bring in a deluge of rain with it.

The question is whether Camden Council are really prepared to embark on to a very big and painful battle against thousands of strong, determined and experienced bikers, who will fight them until the very last minute. Bikers will never give up, they will not go away until they are guaranteed permanent free parking.

Best of luck, Camden, that’s all we can say to you!

We now leave you with a few quotes from Camden officers, which clearly demonstrate that they have absolutely no idea of what’s coming their way, should they dare to charge bikers for parking.

“I can confirm that Camden will be looking into charging motorcyclists to park in motorcycle parking bays.  We will be looking into implementing this in the next financial year” (Syed (Engineering) Hussain, Senior Engineer, Camden Borough Council).

“I expect that we could be investigating motorcycle charging towards the end of 2010/11, but we cannot commit to implementing any bays in 2009/10″ (Roy Turner, Principal Transport Planner, Camden Borough Council).

“The short answer is that we intend to look at the whole issue at some point next year, workloads allowing” (Sam Monck, Head of Street Planning, Camden Borough Council).

Sources:-

No To Bike Parking Tax campaign forum – thread 1

No To Bike Parking Tax campaign forum – thread 2

Please join and support the campaign to stop Westminster Council from stealth taxing motorcyclists to park before their scheme spreads all over the UK and the rest of Europe. For further details, visit  http://www.notobikeparkingtax.com/

Rejoignez le groupe de manifestants contre le stationnement payant des motocyclistes a Westminster avant que cela ne se propage dans le reste du Royaume-Uni et l’Union Europeenne. Pour plus d’informations, consultez  http://www.notobikeparkingtax.com/

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If you have a story you would like to see published on UK France Bikers.com, please contact us here.

Si vous avez une experience a partager et que vous souhaiteriez voir publiee sur UK France Bikers.com, n’hesitez pas a nous contacter en cliquant ici.