Learn lessons from bikers’ battles with bureaucrats

Published: 25 June, 2010

• THIS week the No To Bike Parking Tax Campaign finally has a public hearing at the High Court over the imposition of charges for powered two-wheelers to park in Westminster, a charge that since day one has faced huge opposition from the biking community.

It has given little, if anything, to the bikers in return for the millions they have paid into the coffers of the council and others.

At the outset Westminster held a “consultation” and this is a major factor in the fight having continued for this long.

Throughout this “consultation” thousands of objections were lodged, with barely any support for the scheme, and these were utterly ignored.

This battle has shown what really happens behind the scenes when local councils interact with the public – a decision is made, a consultation is held to merely rubber-stamp that decision and give the impression of due process, then we the public roll over and those in power carry on as they wish without being held to account.

In this case the councillors concerned have been caught out by the dogged determination of those opponents they sought to brush aside.

I know that many across the capital have grown tired of what they see as belligerent resistance by the bikers to this issue, but I would urge those who may not agree with our stance on the charge itself to recognise that this act of resistance against Westminster can and should inspire us all to force those in a position of power not just to quote due process but actually follow it.

And to stand up for ourselves when faced with the seemingly endless ability of bureaucracy to fob us off with excuses and figures.

As for the parking tax, it still rakes in millions from bikers, despite on paper causing a £430,000 loss to ratepayers, still has not given any improvement on the scale of money taken, and still remains as the only scheme of its kind in the country.

The continual exploitation of road users in this way has to end somewhere.

CHARLIE LOTT-PHILLIPS
No To Bike Parking Tax Campaign