Boris Johnson’s decision has been very welcome among the motorcycling community as it shows a strong commitment to protect the safety of bikers and the recognition that the use of motorcycles is to be encouraged as a mode of transport that considerably cuts congestion and pollution in large cities such as London. Boris Johnson’s predecessor, Ken Livingstone, had been heavily criticised for his continued refusal to open bus lanes to motorcyclists on the grounds that it would make them unsafe, particularly for cyclists and pedestrians whilst crossing the road, despite numerous studies that revealed the exact opposite. Among other issues, Livingstone’s continued decision to keep bus lanes closed to bikers had cost him his re-election, a massive mistake that he is now without a doubt severely regretting.

Boris Johnson’s decision comes at a time when Londoners are thinking about who to vote for at the next Mayor elections in May of this year. Let’s not forget that these elections are not just open to Londoners who are British nationals, but also Londoners who are nationals of any member state of the European Union or the Commonwealth, as long as those Londoners are registered with their council’s elections department. For some bikers, the choice is already made: they will vote for Boris based on his recent decision to open bus lanes to them. For other bikers, the choice is not totally made yet. Although Boris has clearly demonstrated strong support to the bikers in opening bus lanes to them, he has so far failed to support the same bikers in their fight against Westminster City Council’s most hated motorcycle parking tax introduced some three years ago in central London for no obvious reason other than that of stealth taxing the use of a congestion-free mode of transport to bring extra revenue to the council. Whilst Boris has put an incredible amount of pressure on Westminster City Council to successfully force them to scrap their plans to charge motorists to park in the evenings and weekends in the sole purpose of bringing extra revenue which could have had a desastrous impact on the local economy, he has so far not shown any support to the No To Bike Parking Tax campaign designed to put pressure on Westminster Council to scrap their deeply unpopular motorcycle parking tax.

During one of the many bikers’ demonstrations against Westminster’s motorcycle parking tax, we recall Boris threatening the bikers of losing access to bus lanes if they carried on with their weekly demonstrations (see video below). So what’s Boris’s views on the use of motorcycles in London? By granting motorbikes and scooters access to bus lanes, he seems to be in favour of their use as a cheaper, greener and anti-congestion mode of transport, but at the same time, he has done nothing so far to help the bikers get rid of the most unpopular measure that has been taken against them and that is of stealth taxing motorcyclists to park in the central London Borough of Westminster.

So, Boris, where do London motorbikers stand? Are you fully supporting them or not? Elections are coming soon…

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.

The UK domestic courts have (subject to any possible ruling from the Supreme Court) declared Westminster Council’s motorcycle parking charge legal and valid on the grounds that it is only fair that motorbike and scooter riders pay for parking because car drivers are required to do so. The UK courts have also said that, by making motorcyclists pay for parking, any discrimination between bikes and cars is eliminated. In other words, the UK legal system assumes that bikes and cars are to be treated in exactly the same way, which gives the green light to any UK council to charge motorbike and scooter riders to park within their borough, if they so wish.

The UK courts have totally failed to recognise the fact that motorbikes and scooters are congestion boosters and offer a cheaper, more convenient, less polluting and faster mode of transport, especially in large cities such as London, where congestion and pollution are very serious issues that need constant tackling. By simply considering that it is only fair that riders have to pay to park because other motorised road users also have to pay, we fear that the ruling made by the UK courts will discourage the use of motorcycles in a heavily congested and polluted environment, where bikes are an ideal and effective solution and not the cause of the problem.

Many believed that the case was robust and able to clearly demonstrate to the UK domestic courts that Westminster City Council had introduced their motorcycle parking charge without adequate consultation and in the sole and unique objective to raise revenue from parking bays that were totally free of charge from the day of their creation. The UK courts rejected these claims and based their entire judgement on grounds of discrimination and fairness between cars and motorcycles.

The thousands of bikers who have been supporting the No To Bike Parking Tax campaign for the past three years disagree with the ruling made by the UK courts and now intend to take their case to the European Court of Justice (pending the result of their application to the UK Supreme Court) and against their own British Government.

The bikers wish to ask the European Court of Justice whether any member state of the European Union is entitled to treat motorcycles like cars when the former have, among other benefits, the power of considerably cutting congestion and pollution. The same bikers also wish to ask the European Court of Justice whether it is acceptable to discourage the use of motorcycles within the European Union by charging them in a view to raising revenue and managing demand, when motorcycles are a key solution to pollution and congestion issues and domestic governments should actively encourage their citizens to switch from four to two wheels. Let’s face it, if the European Court of Justice considers, like the UK domestic courts, that motorcycles are to be treated like cars, not only can we expect to see parking charges for motorbikes and scooters rolled out across the entire European Union, but also the presence of considerable problems with managing pollution, congestion and road space (to name three) in all member states and their respective cities. If, on the contrary, the European Court of Justice recognises that motorbikes and scooters are a major solution to cut pollution, congestion, effectively manage road space etc, then we can expect the ruling made by the UK domestic courts to become invalid and other European member states to scrap any plans they may have to charge motorbikes and scooters for parking.

The case, as it is to be presented before the European Court of Justice, is likely to generate an inmense interest across the entire European Union, from Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Milan to Athens, Warsaw, Stockholm, to name a few. Whatever decision the European Courts will come up with will impact all member states. That decision will either give the green light to all European Union member states to introduce parking charges for motorcycles, and thus discourage their use, or else, prohibit the implementation and imposition of parking charges for motorcycles everywhere within Europe.

The No To Bike Parking Tax campaign has so far successfully managed to keep motorcycle parking charges limited to the central London Borough of Westminster. Surely, a large number of UK councils have been waiting for the ruling of their domestic courts before embarking on to charging for motorcycle parking. Now that the case is highly likely to be taken to the European Court of Justice, will councils wait for a European ruling before introducing parking charges for bikes or will they introduce them anyway and take the risk of having to scrap them at a later stage, should the European Union orders them to do so? Let’s wait and see… but it’s soon all going to be within the very capable hands of the European Court of Justice.

We can only be thankful that the United Kingdom is a full and permanent member state of the European Union, where British bikers sincerely hope to benefit from a much fairer and more realistic hearing than it has been in their own domestic legal system.

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.

The High Court of Justice considers that it is fair that motorcyclists pay, along with car drivers, for parking, despite the fact that motorcycle parking has always been free of charge until recently. The judges today rejected the claim from the The No To Bike Parking Tax group that motorcycle parking charges were introduced in the sole attempt to raise revenue although, as admitted by Westminster Council, the motorcycle charging scheme has been generating an annual loss to the taxpayer of over £400,000, whilst the scheme was being pushed through by the same council as “revenue-neutral”.

The High Court of Justice has also rejected the bikers’ claim that consultation had not been properly carried out by the council prior to introducing the charging scheme. The Court of Appeal also agreed with Westminster Council that parking charges were necessary to regulate demand from motorcyclists given that bikes remain exempt from the congestion charge in central London. Lord Justice Maurice Kay said that “it is common ground that increasing demand, if evidentially well-founded, would justify charging”. The question remains however whether the increasing demand was indeed “well-founded”…

The Court of Appeal took the view that the council had fairly considered the opposing views of motorcyclists by reducing the charge from £1.50 to £1 a day in an attempt to make the scheme revenue-neutral.

The campaign group still disagrees with today’s ruling and intends to continue with their legal fight against Westminster Council by taking the case to the European Court of Justice in Strasbourg to establish whether the council has indeed followed the European Union rules and regulations when setting up its parking infrastructure and while charging for parking. Since the claim that the group is submitting to the European Court of Justice is against the UK Government, as opposed to Westminster Council individually, legal-aid will negate the need for further fundraising from the protest group.

Whilst we are definitely not best placed to make any comments or criticism on the judgement announced today by the Court of Appeal in the UK, we wonder the extent to which the decision has been influenced by politics and personal opinions. Assuming Westminster Council had done something illegitimate or illegal in implementing and imposing a parking charge on motorcyclists, would it have been really appropriate to make a local authority lose against members of the public and admit that they are in the wrong? Would this not have encouraged members of the public across the UK to take the habit of investigating the actions of and suing their local Government every time the latter was to implement an unpopular scheme? Also, after having heard comments during the trial such as “but it’s only a pound” or “why should motorcyclists not pay when car drivers do”, do we really think that a ruling in favour of the bikers was going to be announced today?

In Europe, we expect the case to take a complete different dimension. As far as we can see, the EU is not concerned about local and national politics, and even personal opinions. It’s all about assessing whether European law has been correctly applied in a particular member state and, if not, sanctions and orders are given against the national Government of that member state. Let’s see what the European Court of Justice has to say to the UK Government about the bikers’ claims in due course, if anything. Sometimes, it’s good and reassuring to know that the UK is a full member state of the EU, as one can hope that justice involving the UK may be done in a fairer way.

Westminster councillors may be celebrating their victory today with a glass of champagne, but it sounds like they have only won a battle, not the war against the bikers!

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.

The bikers have had to raise £20,000 to fund the cost of appealing the decision made by Lord Justice Pitchford back in July 2010 that gave reason to Westminster Council. The biking community and their lawyers believe the decision made by Pitchford to be totally wrong in law and, therefore, submitted an application to the Court to appeal it. Not only permission to appeal was granted to the bikers but such permission was granted on six grounds out of seven, which is an amazing and spectacular result. Lord Justice Jackson, who granted permission to the bikers to appeal, will be hearing the case on 14th March 2011, which we all hope will be favourable to the bikers.

Westminster’s most hated bike parking tax has made a lot of bad noise across “la Manche” where the  Fédération Française des Motards en Colère (FFMC – French Federation of Angry bikers) has called all its members across the whole of France to support their most respected British neighbours by making a donation towards the £20,000 required to fund the forthcoming hearing at the High Court of Justice in London. On behalf of all its members, the FFMC has recently sent the amazing sum of 720 euros to the No To Bike Parking Tax campaign, which has been extremely well perceived by the bikers in the UK, who have taken the time to post comments in French on the campaign’s forum to express their inmense gratitude towards their French counterparts.

Not only the French biking community has been following the developments of the No To Bike Parking Tax campaign very closely for the last three years but they have also sent representatives of the FFMC and Motomag.com to London to meet with the campaign committee, attend their demonstrations and make the French biking community aware of what could come their way if Westminster’s most evil attack on motorcyclists is not scrapped immediately. The amazing support that the campaign has received from the French is the illustration of a very strong unity and “entente cordiale” between French and British bikers, who in fact have joined forces to fight against self-serving bureaucrates who have no ambition other than fill up their own coffers. UK France bikers.com is indeed very proud and delighted to see bikers between the two nations join forces and support each other so well. We have heard comments made by a group of British bikers talking about going over to France to attend the next FFMC demonstration to force the Government to make traffic filtering (or lane splitting) legal in France and thank them for all the support they have received from the French biking community.

Yesterday, London saw the last mega demonstration against the motorcycle parking tax before the court hearing on 14 March 2011, where hundreds of bikers got together on the North and South circulars to remind all councils in London and beyond that, should they decide to follow the Westminster example and introduce a stealth tax on motorcycle parking for financial gain and personal glorification, the No To Bike Parking Tax campaign will come their way and severely disrupt their working lives, as it has been the case in Westminster.

If you’re based in France and want to take part of the fight against the Government’s proposed introduction of a compulsory annual environmental and road safety test for motorcycles and their continued policy to ban motorcyclists from filtering through traffic, then contact the Fédération Française des Motards en Colère (FFMC – French Federation of Angry Bikers).

Si vous habitez en France et souhaitez participer aux manifestations contre la proposition du gouvernement d’introduire un controle technique pour les 2 roues motorises ansi que de continuer a empecher la circulation inter files pour les motocyclistes dans les embouteillages, contactez la Fédération Française des Motards en Colère (FFMC).

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.

We are not like cagers!

When it comes to defend and protect the rights of motorcyclists, bikers from all walks of life and horizons form a great alliance to fight against any authority that dares to compromise and put an end to the freedom they have always enjoyed. Free parking, no congestion charge, cheaper, faster, less pollutant, non-congestant, you name it, motorcycles represent an ideal mode of transport for so many of us. But the issue comes when a public authority starts treating motorcycles like cars, although motorcycles are not cars at all. The most recurrent question is “cars pay for parking, why should motorcycles not pay?”. But when we ask why cars should pay for parking, the answer is “well, mmh, euh, I don’t know…!” So if you don’t know why cars should pay for parking, then why should motorcycles pay? Surely, motorcycles should not pay for no reason. In truth, there is no reason why cars should pay for parking, other than bring in more cash to councils, that’s the only reason. But the benefits generated from making cars pay for parking are all for councils, motorists get no benefit whatsoever out of their payment. So again, we ask the question why should motorcycles pay for parking? Answer on a postcard…

While discussing the concept of treating motorcycles like cars with a council member the other day, we made the obvious statement that cars congest our roads whilst bikes don’t. Our statement was accepted but the council member was still keen on the idea of treating motorcycles like cars, which came as no surprise to us given the complete lack of knowledge that this individual demonstrated about bikes. When we made the statement that because cars congest, then bikes should also congest, the guy argued that bikes were different from cars and so don’t cause congestion. So why does he want to treat motorcycles like cars then whilst he clearly recognises that bikes are different from cars?

When a public authority starts to treat bikes like cars, motorcyclists often go down the streets en masse and behave like car drivers, that is take the space of a car either while parked or riding on the road and enjoy the complete mess that this creates. One car equals one bike, right then, let’s occupy the same space as a car on the road, the same kerb space as a car while parked so that the number of parking spaces for cars decrease, stop filtering through traffic (or lane splitting) to cause the same amount of congestion as a car and leave plenty of space between us to cause the same disruption as cars naturally do, and then let’s see whether the public authority will continue to treat motorbikes and scooters like cars.

Last year, the Fédération Française des Motards en Colère (FFMC - the French Federation of Angry Bikers) organised enormous demonstrations all over France to protest against the Government’s proposals to introduce a compulsory road safety and environmental test, exactly the same test as for cars. Thousands of bikers took over the French roads and behaved like car drivers, that is each occupied the same space as a car to prove to the Government that should they treat bikes like cars, then bikes will behave like cars and cause the same disruption and congestion as cars do.

Each bike occupies the same space as a car... Can you imagine the impact on congestion?

Every Wednesday morning and evening, a group of motorcyclists from the No To Bike Parking Tax campaign gather in central London’s Trafalgar Square and ride their bikes like if they were driving cars. Each bike deliberately takes the same space as a car on the road and causes enormous congestion that has the effect of creating massive traffic jams all over central London during rush hour. That’s what happens when an authority like Westminster City Council has decided to treat motorcycles like cars by charging them to park for no reason other than make the authority wealthier. They treat bikes like cars, so they behave like cars.

Traffic jam in central London caused by bikers behaving like car drivers

THEY TREAT US LIKE CARS, WE WILL BEHAVE LIKE CARS, WHETHER IN FRANCE OR THE UNITED KINGDOM – LET THOSE WHO RIDE DECIDE

If you’re based in France and want to take part of the fight against the Government’s proposed introduction of a compulsory annual environmental and road safety test for motorcycles and their continued policy to ban motorcyclists from filtering through traffic, then contact the Fédération Française des Motards en Colère (FFMC – French Federation of Angry Bikers).

Si vous habitez en France et souhaitez participer aux manifestations contre la proposition du gouvernement d’introduire un controle technique pour les 2 roues motorises ansi que de continuer a empecher la circulation inter files pour les motocyclistes dans les embouteillages, contactez la Fédération Française des Motards en Colère (FFMC).

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.

Motorcyclists have been treated like cash cows by Westminster Tory Councillors who decided to charge them to park their bikes in Central London with exactly the same facilities as when their use was free of charge. In addition to demonstrating in the streets of Westminster, the bikers have decided to present their case to the Court after having discovered that the motorcycle parking tax, its infrastructure and the way it is being collected may well be illegal. Next month, the bikers will return to Court in the hope that the council will be ordered to put an end to their money grabbing motorcycle parking policy.

In the meantime, the relationship between the council and the bikers has severely heated up. Last week, the council’s head of legal, Peter Large, who claimed to be the victim of defamation by the bikers based on allegations and accusations of professional misconduct and fraud, tried to shut down the campaign’s website by imposing legal threats on the web host. Within 24 hours, the website together with all its contents, including the allegations against Peter Large, was back online and moved to another location, out of Westminster Council’s reach, as we were told. The same Peter Large also attacked Nutsville without success.

Last Friday, we learned that the No To Mob group, composed of bikers who work very closely with the No To Bike Parking Tax campaign, have forced Westminster Council to suspend enforcement at crucial junctions in central London where traffic signs do not comply with the legislation and while they review the sites in question. These junctions all constitute honey pots for the council where thousands upon thousands of motorists have been caught and fined despite illegal traffic signage and brought substantial income to the council. Oh dear, all this is the result of Westminster Council refusing to scrap their motorcycle parking tax despite having received more than 3,000 objections in writing, something that they had never ever seen before. For sure, the income that they are now going to lose as a result of their traffic signage cock-up will cost the council a lot more money than the income generated by the motorcycle parking tax.

Today, hundreds of bikers gathered in central London to raise additional funds for the forthcoming Court of Appeal judgement and remind Westminster Council that they will not go away until full scrapping of the bike parking tax. The ride was, as usual, incident free, unlike what Westminster Council would have hoped to stop the bikers exercising their legal right to protest. There wasn’t any police presence today on the ride, which suggests that there is a great degree a trust between the bikers and the police, again unlike what Westminster Council would have hoped for. The bikers have managed to limit the parking tax to the Borough of Westminster only because it is clear that, without their campaign, other London councils such as Islington, Camden and Kensington & Chelsea, but also throughout the UK and beyond, would have jumped on this fantastic opportunity to also steal money from the bikers. Any council that dares to charge motorcyclists to park will see the No To Bike Parking Tax campaign coming their way and bring their daily working lives to complete hell. That said, it appears that the bikers are about to hit Islington Borough Council right where it hurts, click here for more details.

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.

We just couldn’t believe that the campaign’s website had just disappeared, so we started to wonder what was going on. We thought that perhaps Councillor Lee Rowley, in charge of parking at Westminster Council, had seen Virgin Mary appear in front of him making him realise that it was a sin to take away public money without justification and ordering him to scrap the unjustified and money grabbing motorcycle parking scheme. We thought that perhaps Westminster was going to become a world wide pilgrimage site where a miracle would have just occured for the first time ever, that is a Tory Councillor listening to the voice of the public, after ignoring more than 3,000 objections to the motorcycle charging scheme a couple of years ago.

So we went down the street and checked our usual parking bay. How disappointed were we when we noticed that the motorcycle parking signs asking us to pay £1 a day were still up. Oh, well never mind, Pope Benedict XVI will have to find another reason to visit London next time.

So we went back to our office and started to google a few words to try and find out what the hell was going on. Oh, thank Godness, the No To Mob forum was still up and running. You can see how much we value the No To Bike Parking Tax campaign. We were in fact feeling devastated to have lost our “petit nid douillet” on the internet. Oh la la, sacre bleu, it looked like the campaign had received some legal threats from Peter Large, Head of Legal at Westminster Council, who also sent an email to the campaign’s internet host requesting them to shut down the site or face legal action.

But, honestly, what is the issue with a very large group of bikers exercising their legal right to protest at a scheme that they don’t agree with? Eh, honestly, what’s the problem? That campaign website was so beautiful, so well organised and presented, so dynamic and full of life. We just thought that it was a real shame to kill it so quickly without having been consulted beforehand. Oh, but wait a minute, consultation is optional in Westminster, it’s not something that they always consider necessary. Actually, it’s easier to do whatever you want rather than ask the opinion of others when you know for a fact that they will say NO, isn’t it?

Oh la la, mon Dieu, legal threats over the contents of the campaign’s website because it disclosed allegations against the professional behaviour of Westminster’s Head of Legal! Thank Goodness, Nutsville.com was still up and running! Then we carried on reading the No To Mob forum and the campaign’s Twitter feed and found out that the IT team was very busy moving the website to a very deep underground location, completely out of the reach of Westminster Council. Phew, we were so reassured because without the No To Bike Parking Tax campaign, we just felt totally devastated. Oh, and we learn today that Nutsville has also moved their site to a very deep underground location, again out of the reach of Westminster Council! It feels good to know that there are so many countries around the world which are able to accomodate and keep the websites of those who want to exercise their legal right to protest and freedom of speech totally safe.

Now we are told that the No To Bike Parking Tax will explain everything that happened in their next newsletter, which is due within the next couple of days or so. Oh my Lord, we can smell a big rat here. That sounds so exciting and we can’t wait to read the bloody good juicy story that is about to come up! It sounds like Westminster Council may be given a very hard and embarrassing time as the campaign is highly unlikely to romove any of its website contents.

Stay tuned!

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.

After a well earned Christmas break, the bikers have resumed their Wednesday gatherings at Trafalgar Square, where they simply ride their motorbike or scooter as if they were driving a car. “They have decided to charge us to park like cars, so we have decided to behave like cars”, said one protestor. By leaving plenty of space in between them, riding at the minimum legal speed limit and occupying the whole space for one hour on one of Central London’s most vital roundabout, the bikers cause enormous traffic jams during rush hour, thus delaying thousands of Londoners on their way to and back from work. In normal circumstances, bikers do not cause congestion thanks to the small space occupied by their machines and also to their ability to filter through traffic and ride around stationary cars. But on Wednesdays (morning and evening), they choose to behave like cars by remaining stationary in traffic, thus causing complete mayhem all over the place.

These weekly protests have been going on for well over a year and the number of bikers attending have increased week after week. Westminster Council and TfL (Transport for London) have tried everything they possibly can to stop the bikers exercising their legal right to protest, but without any luck. Even the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, threatened the bikers to lose access to bus lanes if they didn’t stop their weekly protests. The bikers’ protests are perfectly legal, there is nothing in the highway code to suggest that a bike must or must not filter through traffic. In fact, there is no piece of legislation that suggests that bikes cannot be driven like cars and are not allowed to congest, since they are subject to the same highway code as all other road users.

By treating bikes like cars, Westminster Council is making the lives of thousands of commuters a complete nightmare every Wednesday. And this weekly mayhem is not about to stop, unless of course the council scraps the motorcycle parking tax, or is forced to do so.

If you fancy joining the fun on Wednesdays to express your opposition to being stealth taxed to park your bike, then join the No To Bike Parking Tax group at Villiers Street in Central London at 7.30am and/or at 5.30pm. Or if you’re not joining, then try and avoid Westminster on Wednesdays.

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.

The most important thing is that the campaign will face Westminster Council in the High Court of Justice again in March as a result of Lord Justice Jackson having granted approval to the campaign to appeal the decision that was made by Lord Justice Pitchford in the first round of the trial back in June 2010. Approval to appeal has been granted to the campaign on six grounds out of seven, which suggests that the No To Bike Parking Tax group has a fair chance to win against Westminster Council on appeal. If the decision on appeal is in favour of the bikers, then chances are that the bike parking tax will have to be scrapped with immediate effect. It is really sad to note that the Westminster Conservative bureaucrates have reached the stage of being taken to Court to have the legality of their motorcycle parking policy challenged as a result of ignoring thousands of objections to their bike charging scheme, thus unnecessarily spending a substantial amount of public funds instead of investing them more wisely in developments and improvements to directly benefit the taxpayer.

Traffic chaos caused by the bikers every Wednesday in Central London in protest at Westminster's bike parking tax

Not to mention the regular protests and blockades occasioned by the bikers every Wednesday morning and evening at London’s Trafalgar Square during rush hour, delaying thousands of commuters on their way to and back from work and bringing Central London to a standstill. These weekly legal protests are due to resume this coming Wednesday 12th January 2011, so if you commute to work by bus or car through Central London, it’s best to avoid the area completely on Wednesdays if you don’t want to be caught in stationary traffic for a good couple of hours each way. These demonstrations have caused embarrassment to Westminster Council, especially as a Freedom of Information request has exposed the anger of a member of the public stuck in traffic for hours on Wednesdays and not being able to get on with their business, blaming the council to unfairly stealth tax motorcyclists to park. Unsurprisingly, the council seems to have failed to respond despite the individual chasing for a reply. This shows how badly Westminster Council treats members of the public, by serving their own needs before that of the taxpayer they are primarily paid to serve. Below is the correspondence the individual has had with Westminster Council:-

From: XXXXX

Date: 23 June 2010 11:09:44 GMT+01:00
To: xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Subject: Motorcycle parking protests – Please can you stop them!

Dear Cllr Rowley,

I am writing to express my very deep concern with regards to the constant protests held by motorcyclists in Trafalgar Square and occasionally on Lambeth roundabout. I am told that you are the person in charge of parking at Westminster City Council and also responsible for this stealth tax that the bikers are not happy with.

I keep being stuck in traffic for at least two hours because of these protests, when I have important meetings to attend with my clients. I run my own business and cannot afford to be late at meetings with clients or else I may lose them. These protests have been going on for at least three months without stopping and thousands of Londoners are being delayed and disrupted because of them.

I am told that the bikers will continue to protest in this manner until you scrap the parking charge you have imposed on them. We just cannot carry on with these protests constantly, they are adversely affecting the London economy and the business of thousands of Londoners.

I therefore urge you to find a solution as soon as possible to put an end to these protests, and if it involves the scrapping of the motorcycle parking charge, then so be it. It’s far more important to keep London running than have this motorcycle parking charge in place that doesn’t bring any benefits to the vast majority of us.

I await your response without delay.

Yours sincerely.

XXXX

From: XXXXX

Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2010 09:35:19 +0000 (GMT)

To: xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx<xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx>

Subject: Fwd: Motorcycle parking protests – Please can you stop them!

Dear Councillor Rowley,

I am disappointed not to have received a response to my email below, or at least an acknowledgement of receipt.

Since you have recently stated that you are keen to discuss matters with members of the public, particularly Westminster residents, and that you maintain an open door policy, I am very surprised by your silence.

Please would you let me have a response to my email below at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely.

XXXXXX

Source: Freedom of Information request to Westminster Council

Hundreds of bikers gathered this morning at the famous Ace Cafe in West London for a slow ride in the outskirts of London to raise awareness of their campaign and raise funds for the Court case in March. After a short briefing, they went off for a ride en masse to remind Westminster Council that they will not go away until full scrapping of the motorcycle parking tax and also to warn other councils throughout the United Kingdom that should they even think about introducing a stealth tax on motorcycle parking, they know what to expect in return.

It is clear that the bikers are determined to defeat Westminster Council and will continue to fight hard until they achieve their objective.

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.

Information such as charging hours and fare is obliterated hence the parking charge is unenforceable

Parking a motorbike or scooter in Westminster is like complete hell these days. It’s become so bad that a number of anonymous protestors who oppose the bike parking tax continue to deface or even remove the parking signs all over the borough to make the charge unenforceable and thus make the council lose revenue.

First, you have to pay £1 to park your bike by shouting out your credit/debit card details to the operator over your mobile phone in the street while doing this in the pouring rain or under freezing temperatures and while everyone around can hear and make a note of those details without you even realising. Second, you have to squeeze your bike into minuscule spaces and in over-crowded parking bays, which has the inevitable effect of damaging your motorcycle and that of other riders. Third, a large proportion of the bike parking signs have been either removed or ”enhanced” by angry bikers who believe that the service provided by the council is so terrible that it doesn’t justify a charge whatsoever. Parking bays that have always been free of charge before are now no longer free, and what’s the justification for this? Absolutely none other than make Westminster Council, its parking enforcement contractor NSL Services and pay by phone provider Paypoint (previously known as Verrus), more wealthy. There’s no other reason, it’s purely money, money, money.

Lower sign is missing hence information such as the fare to pay or the method of payment is not displayed. The parking charge is unenforceable in the circumstances.

Anyway, if you want to park your bike for free in the streets of Westminster while the No To Bike Parking Tax campaign continues to legally make the working life of Westminster Councillors a nightmare and forces them to scrap the tax, why not park your bike in a bay where the parking signs have been defaced, removed or painted over? Make sure that essential information such as (for instance) the phone number to call or the fare to pay, the parking enforcement hours or the bay location number have been obliterated, made impossible to read or the sign itself has been removed all together (see pictures above and on the right for more details). Take a photograph of your bike (clearly showing its registration plate) with the defaced or missing parking signs as evidence in case you need to challenge any Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) that you may have received by a parking attendant desparate to meet their daily PCN targets imposed on them by their employer hungry for more revenue. If you do receive a PCN, you should contest it immediately by saying that the information necessary to pay the parking tax was not visible due to signs being defaced or missing. Don’t forget to enclose the photograph that you took of your bike and signs as supporting evidence.

While UK France bikers.com does not support or get involved in any act of vandalism against street furniture or indeed anything else, we believe that there is nothing wrong or illegal with parking your bike free of charge in a bay where the signs have been defaced or removed, as the parking charge is not enforceable in the circumtances.

If you’re still unsure, then have a look at a letter that was sent to a motorcyclist last year by Westminster Council to advise that the PCN had been cancelled as a result of vandalised signage and obliterated information.

That said, we are not encouraging any of our readers to embark themselves onto vandalising the bike parking bays or signs, we are only suggesting that motorcyclists do make use of vandalised parking bays in a more economical manner.

Happy parking in Westminster free of charge!

If you’re based in France and want to take part of the fight against the Government’s proposed introduction of a compulsory annual environmental and road safety test for motorcycles and their continued policy to ban motorcyclists from filtering through traffic, then contact the Fédération Française des Motards en Colère (FFMC – French Federation of Angry Bikers).

Si vous habitez en France et souhaitez participer aux manifestations contre la proposition du gouvernement d’introduire un controle technique pour les 2 roues motorises ansi que de continuer a empecher la circulation inter files pour les motocyclistes dans les embouteillages, contactez la Fédération Française des Motards en Colère (FFMC).

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.

One would expect the use of a mode of transport that doesn’t cause congestion to be encouraged by providing adequate parking facilities, but in Westminster, where bikes are so much hated by the council, it’s more important to save kerb space for cars and car clubs to help London remain the second most congested city in Europe. And can you imagine that riders are asked to pay £1 a day to squeeze in their bikes like sardines? £1 a day for what service? To get your motorbike or scooter damaged due to delibarate lack of parking space, while Boris Johnson’s bicycle scheme (“cycle hire”) is given plenty of space for parking!

Boris Johnson's bicycle hire scheme copied from Paris. Notice the enormous space between the bicycles, which are parked on the pavement!

But because it’s actually the Mayor’s initiative, Westminster Council is happy to make sure that plenty of space is provided for his scheme, whilst when it comes to help London residents, who are also keen to alleviate congestion in the British capital by using motorbikes and scooters, then that’s another matter. We wonder to what extent Westminster Council is not delibarately creating these horrible parking conditions for motorcycles in a view to claiming that there isn’t enough space in the borough to accomodate them all, hence the parking tax to reduce the number of powered two wheelers (PTWs) in circulation. Pure robbery!

Compare the above with motorcycle parking facilities in Paris, Barcelona and Milan provided free of charge and let us know what you think! And no, don’t say that Paris, Barcelona and Milan know how to treat bikers and provide excellent parking facilities to them, because you will be preaching a converted!

Motorcycle parking in Paris

Motorcycle parking in Paris

Motorcycle parking in Barcelona

Motorcycle parking in Barcelona

Motorcycle parking in Milan

Motorcycle parking in Milan

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.

Mr Djanogly presented seven reasons as to why he thought that Lord Justice Pitchford made the wrong decision in law in the first hearing of the case, and permission to appeal has been granted by Lord Justice Jackson on the grounds of six of those reasons. This permission to appeal comes a couple of weeks after Lord Justice Pitchford himself, unsurprisingly, rejected Mr Djanogly’s application for an appeal on the grounds that Mr Djanogly had “no reasonable prospect of success”, perhaps because he might have been concerned that he had made the wrong decision in law? Mr Djanogly then had no choice but formally apply to the Court of Appeal to obtain permission. But if Mr Djanogly truly had “no reasonable prospect of success”, as Lord Justice Pitchford said, surely he would not have obtained permission from another judge to appeal on 6 grounds out of 7. It results that a complete different judge will be assessing the case on appeal, which is not what Peter Large, Head of Legal Services at Westminster Council, had hoped for. Large sent a letter to the Court on behalf of the council to request that, should permission to appeal be granted to Mr Djanogly, Lord Justice Pitchford assesses the case again. This is, sadly, a good example that shows the degree to which some public authorities have become so corrupted over the years. But the fact that judge Pitchford rejected Mr Djanogly’s application for appeal was actually the best possible outcome for Mr Djanogly, as he had then no choice but submit an application to the Court of Appeal and have a different judge evaluating the case as a result. We can only hope that Mr Large has now learned the lesson from his unprofessional cockup.

The No To Bike Parking Tax campaigners are convinced that the decision made in the first hearing is wrong and that the case should be re-examined thoroughly. The bikers are now waiting for an appeal hearing date which is hoped to be soon.

Meanwhile, the same bikers are getting ready for a ride to Brussels next week where they will be meeting with the EU Commissioners to request an immediate investigation into the violations of EU Directives by Westminster City Council (and others) when they allowed a brand new entity called NCP Services Ltd to perform the Parking Enforcement Contracts vacated by National Car Parks Ltd in March 2007 when the contract should have been re-tendered, in accordance with European law. This will mark an historic event whereby the British motorcycling community is taking the initiative to expose abuses perpetrated by a local authority that has dared to treat bikers like cash cows by potentially breaking European law (for more details, click here).

The same EU Commissioners are still investigating a claim submitted earlier this year about the Westminster lead Partnership-in-Parking (PiP) scheme, which consists of encouraging other councils throughout the United Kingdom to adopt the Verrus (now Paypoint) cashless parking system, in exchange for a nice and comfortable fee payable to Westminster City Council. PiP encourages councils to adopt the Verrus pay-by-phone parking system without giving an opportunity to other organisations to present their products and services, thus allowing fair competition between companies across the European Union. Under EU law, all contracts costing more than £156,442 must be opened to tender to enable fair competition between businesses, and it is alleged that the PiP scheme is precisely failing to do this. Let’s wait and see what the EU Commissioners have to say on this.

Oh well, it sounds like Westminster Councillors are going to be given a very hard time in the next few weeks. And all this purely and solely because they decided to introduce a stealth tax on motorcycle parking in Central London despite the thousands of written objections they received, which in turn has lead the bikers to investigate and examine the council’s obscure parking contracts and activities in deep detail and submit their findings to the appropriate authorities for further investigation. Those councillors must realise that it’s not a good idea to mislead the public and treat the bikers like cash cows, because when they say NO, they really mean it.

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.

Unsurprisingly, and considering the politics involved in a case opposing a public authority to a member of the public, Mr Djanogly lost the case. He then made an application to the judge, Lord Justice Pitchford, for appeal as Mr Djanogly felt that the judge’s decision was unacceptable and the case had not been properly assessed. Again unsurprisingly, Judge Pitchford rejected the appeal this week on the grounds that Mr Djanogly had “no reasonable prospect of success”, which is exactly the same excuse/explanation that was given on the day of the verdict.

We are obviously not best placed to comment on or challenge Judge Pitchford’s decision, however, we were quite shocked (to say the least) when we found out that Peter Large, Head of Legal Services at Westminster City Council, had written to the court following Mr Djanogly’s application for appeal, to request that the same judge (Pitchford) assesses the case again, should Mr Djanogly’s application be successful. We won’t comment any further on this, we let you draw your own conclusions.

Anyway, everything’s far from being lost for the bikers. The case will now go before the Court of Appeal, where complete different judges will be assessing it. To a certain extent, this is the best possible outcome for Mr Djanogly given that, had his appeal application to Lord Justice Pitchford been successful, chances are that the decision would have been identical as the one made in the first round. The No To Bike Parking Tax campaigners are convinced that the first judgement was made incorrectly and the case had not been properly considered. This comes as no surprise really, given that in this corrupted world, public authorities are always right.

While bikers are waiting for a hearing date from the Court of Appeal, they are getting prepared to ride en masse to the EU Commissioners’ Office in Brussels on 28th October 2010 to officially submit a demand that an investigation be immediately launched against the British Government into the violations of EU Directives by Westminster City Council (and others) when they allowed a brand new entity called NCP Services Ltd to perform the Parking Enforcement Contracts vacated by National Car Parks Ltd in March 2007 when the contract should have been re-tendered, in accordance with European law. This will mark an historic event whereby the British motorcycling community is taking the initiative to expose abuses perpetrated by a local authority that has dared to treat bikers like cash cows while potentially breaking European law (for more details, click here).

If Westminster Council can get away with their (corrupted?) activities under United Kingdom law, this may well not be the case under EU law. Some of our readers will recall the outstanding claim made to the EU Commissioners about the Westminster lead Partnership-in-Parking (PiP) scheme, which consists of encouraging other councils throughout the United Kingdom to adopt the Verrus (now Paypoint) cashless parking system, in exchange for a nice and comfortable fee payable to Westminster City Council. Although this all sounds like a good idea in principle, as it would harmonise all parking regulations and systems across the country, PiP encourages councils to adopt the Verrus pay-by-phone parking system without giving an opportunity to other organisations to present their products and services, thus allowing fair competition between companies across the European Union. Under EU law, all contracts costing more than £156,442 must be opened to tender to enable fair competition between businesses, and it is alleged that the PiP scheme is precisely failing to do this. Let’s wait and see what the EU Commissioners have to say on this.

Thank Goodness, the UK is a member state of the European Union, as we sometimes wonder how some public authorities manage to get away with their dodgy activities under UK law.

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.

In France, you are expected to ride your motorcycle like you would drive a car, that is stay in lane behind each other and not overtake anyone in stationary traffic. So if you find yourself stuck in a massive traffic jam that could take hours to clear, then you must forget that you are on a bike and behave like if you were sitting in a car. Can you imagine yourself stuck in traffic in between a car in front and another behind although there is enough space around for you to filter through and move off? Well, if you break the law and filter through stationary traffic, you may find yourself with up to 4 points taken off your licence and a rather nasty fine to pay on the spot.

They treat us like cars, we will behave like cars!

The Fédération Française des Motards en Colère (FFMC – the French Federation of Angry Bikers) organised enormous protests nationwide back in March 2010 during which more than 40,000 motorcyclists brought France to a halt by invading the roads and the public transport (read our posts by clicking here and here). With the Government still refusing to make lane splitting or traffic filtering legal in France, the same motorcyclists will repeat their hugely disruptive actions on 23rd October 2010. “They want us to behave like cars so we will behave like cars and show the authorities how disruptive bikes can be when treated like cars” says one of the protestors who emailed us with details of the forthcoming protests.

British bikers to ride en masse to Brussels!

Meanwhile, British bikers, opposed to being stealth taxed to park by Westminster City Council in central London, will be getting prepared to ride en masse to the EU Commissioners’ Office in Brussels on 28th October 2010 to officially submit a demand that an investigation be immediately launched against the British Government into the violations of EU Directives by Westminster City Council (and others) when they allowed a brand new entity called NCP Services Ltd to perform the Parking Enforcement Contracts vacated by National Car Parks Ltd in March 2007 when the contract should have been re-tendered, in accordance with European law. This will mark an historic event whereby the British motorcycling community is taking the initiative to expose abuses perpetrated by a local authority that has dared to treat bikers like cash cows while potentially breaking the law (for more details, click here). We are told that a large contingent of French bikers will greet their British cousins upon arrival on the continent and ride all together to Brussels to meet with the EU Commissioners, as a united community.

So here we go, it’s always best not to annoy the bikers and leave them alone, as they will always be prepared to fight back until they get what they want. They will never give up, they will always stand up for their rights and protect the future of their community from blatant, vile and unjustified attacks.

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.

A group of volunteers from the No To Bike Parking Tax campaign get together every week and target the CCTV smart cars, introduced by the council to catch members of the public while doing something wrong and fine them for what the council regards as an offence. These CCTV smart cars, when not disrupted, run around central London discretely and are equipped with a camera that films what’s going on, as proof for any fine issued to the public.

The bikers have been successfully experimenting a way to stop these CCTV smart cars from filming the public and bringing income to the council, that is up to £7 million in the last year. Each smart car is followed by two or three motorcyclists who ride behind the car and don’t stop to avoid paying the bike parking tax. At the same time and by not stopping, the bikers prevent the driver from stopping and filming what is going on around. If or when the smart car eventually stops, the bikers stop behind it and let everyone know around where the smart car is so that they can be on their best behaviour and avoid being prosecuted or fined by the naughty car driver. This strategy has so far made the council lose substantial income and the amount does add up very quickly week after week.

What’s wrong with following a car on the road while leaving enough space between the bike and the car and following the highway code to the letter? Nothing at all, this is all perfectly legal and the smart car driver has no evidence of the biker doing anything wrong. One doesn’t need to be on a bike to follow a CCTV smart car around. The same effect can be achived with a car or a van.

So it’s a matter of choice for Westminster City Council: they either have CCTV smart cars or a motorcycle parking tax, but they can’t have both. The choice is theirs!

To join the group of volunteers chasing CCTV smart cars, sign up on the campaign forum by clicking here.

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.