Following an attempted “Dirty Tricks” campaign instigated by Cllr Danny Chalkley, Westminster's cabinet member for city development, wherein certain logistics groups were cajoled into sending direct to the Chairman “templated”
“…agreeing to jointly fund Westminster City Council’s parking guru Hayley Regan, for the next 12-months” Source:- article on www.roadtransport.com penned by Laura Hailstone of Reed Business Information. (http://www.roadtransport.com/
Emails were received by Warren Djanogly, Chairman of the campaign, when he responded to two of the "cajoled" parties exposing that the campaign was aware of the “Dirty Tricks” campaign:
“BLG members, by using dialogue with senior members of the Westminster parking department and Cllr Danny Chalkley, have reduced PCNs issued to the brewery trade by 85%” Source:- email from M J Bracey, Chairman of Brewery Logistics Group to W Djanogly, Chairman, NTBPT Campaign - NB: note the "naming" of Councillor Danny Chalkley.
“This has led to the development of a respectful and fruitful relationship with Westminster that has led to significant benefits for our members in terms of reduced levels of charges” Source:- email from G Telling, Head of Policy for the Freight Transport Association to W Djanogly, Chairman, NTBPT Campaign
Warren said today: “It is hard to see this scenario as anything but a “pay-off” to WCC Officials in return for greatly reduced levels of tickets issued against persistent offenders, and the use of these concessions to cajole firms into supporting Chalkley’s ridiculous tax. WCC clearly put the protection of this revenue raising tax above honesty and integrity.”
The Campaign stressed this did not amount to an attack on the haulage firms. Press Spokesman Charlie Lort-Phillips said:
“We all recognize the vital role played by haulage firms in keeping the city working, and are certainly not against flexibility for delivery firms, but to have such a blatant ‘cash for questions’ scenario is tantamount to the days of Shirley Porter. What makes it even worse is that a congesting and polluting group of road users is being actively encouraged by WCC to campaign against a congestion busting and less polluting group!”
The campaign also questioned why, given the vast sums raised from the Bike Parking Tax, such a deal was not on the table for motorcyclists.
The next demonstration is planned for 9th June 2009 starting in Berkeley Square.
Photographs of the previous demo can be found at:
http://www.flickr.com/
These photographs can be freely used without credit.
For further information on the campaign, quotes or photos, please contact Warren Djanogly, campaign chair, at:
chairman@notobikeparkingfees.com
Mobile: 07802 882 681 or Charlie Lort-Phillips (Press Spokesman) on 07813 138 517/charlielp@
To contact the TaxPayers’ Alliance, please contact Mark Wallace, Campaign Director of the Alliance, at:
Mark.wallace@
Mobile: 07736 009 548
1) The No To Bike Parking Fees protest group is the leading voice challenging the charges, and has enlisted the support of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, the Drivers’ Alliance, The British Motorcycle Federation, the Motorcycle Action Group, the AA, and thousands of bikers across the UK. Further information about the campaign can be found at www.notobikeparkingfees.com.
2) 2) Westminster City Council’s scheme involved a parking charge of £1.50 a day for every motorbike or scooter, planned to be reduced to £1. To buy an annual parking pass now costs a minimum of £150, soon to be £100. By March 2009, since its introduction in August 2008, the parking tax raised over £2,272,000 and a Freedom of Information request by the No To Bike Parking Fees campaign revealed that at that time only £23,000 had been spent in that time on physical parking improvements.
3) In the Conservative Party’s key document on economic policy, “Reconstruction:
4) In a letter in March to a supporter of the campaign, Robert Goodwill, Conservative MP for Scarborough and Whitby and Shadow Transport Minister for Roads, said ““Please note that this is not a policy set by the Conservative Party nationally but a local policy decided by Westminster councillors. I hope that this will not be replicated widely".
5) In response to question 446/2009, Mayor Boris Johnson said about the parking tax: “I am keen to encourage the use of motorcycles in London, as evidenced by my recent announcement to allow motorcycles in bus lanes on the TLRN. I will ask TfL to discuss with Westminster as to whether the introduction of this payment has led to a reduction in the number of people using motorcycles in central London.”
Further quotes:
“To my mind, your notice (of future demonstrations)
“Chalkley’
“Please note that this is not a policy set by the Conservative Party nationally but a local policy decided by Westminster councillors. I hope that this will not be replicated widely". Robert Goodwill MP, Shadow Roads Minister
“I am keen to encourage the use of motorcycles in London, as evidenced by my recent announcement to allow motorcycles in bus lanes on the TLRN. I will ask TfL to discuss with Westminster as to whether the introduction of this payment has led to a reduction in the number of people using motorcycles in central London.” Mayor Boris Johnson in response to Question 446/2009
