Parking policy hurts
• I WAS amazed to read (January 29) that the council propose to introduce even more restrictions to deter both residents and visitors from visiting central London.
I have been a resident of Westminster for around 25 years, and I was hit hard when the council introduced charges for parking motorbikes on the streets. Yet I persevered with purchasing a paper residents’ parking permit for my bike, which I think is only suited to affixing to the insides of car windscreens. But after a year of constantly having my bike knocked over as I was forced to park in the car bays, and defending parking tickets when the paper permit was stolen, or not spotted by the parking wardens, I have given up trying to comply with the council’s ever-more draconian parking policies.
I cannot be the only single woman bike riding resident who has now been deterred from visiting central London on what I thought was a congestion-friendly form of transport. Instead I now prefer to do the bulk of my shopping in Kilburn where two wheels are still welcome and free. I earn less than £10,000 per year, ironically in the tourism trade, and feel that Westminster is fast becoming a parking ghetto for only the very rich.
As a resident trying to oppose the bike parking stealth tax, I have found that the council now don’t even bother with the pretence of paying lip service to the residents’ views.
People who ride motorbikes also go to theatres, shops, cinemas and, above all, are voters.
Parking policies may help to fill a largely self-inflicted financial black hole, but they cause people to spend money outside the borough.
SARA MAC
Shirland Road, W9