While surfing the web, we came across a very interesting article, which explains how a Westminster Civil Enforcement Officer (CEO) has been issuing illegal Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) to legally parked vehicles, and fabricating false evidence to support the PCNs.

In this particular instance, the car was parked in a bay that only had a thin 10ft high black kerbside pole, with no parking sign attached to it to instruct motorists on how to pay. Parking in that bay could therefore not be charged for.

Nevertheless, the CEO issued the car with a PCN and took pictures of the vehicle, registration plate and parking ticket.

He then walked 30 yards, to another bay across the street, took a picture of the parking sign there and…

… lovely jobly! One more PCN had been issued to an innocent motorist, who had been mislead by Westminster City Council, once again. Is this not absolutely disgusting?

We posted a similar story a few months ago about a motorcyclist who parked their bike on a piece of private land, off the footway, and yet was illegally issued with a PCN. Click here to view the post.

We know very well that CEOs are not entirely responsible for their dishonest behaviour. They are all given PCN targets to meet on a daily basis, and if they don’t meet their target, they don’t get overtime and may lose their job. Issuing parking tickets in Westminster is an entire business on its own, driven by NSL services and Westminster parking services. Our very well respected Nutsville colleagues have recently met with a CEO, who has explained in detail how parking wardens are being treated, it’s just absolutely disgusting, we wouldn’t even treat a dog like this. Click here to view part 1, part 2 and part 3 on the Nutsville website to find out more.

We must confess that UKFRANCE.org would not have been created if Councillor Danny Chalkley and his fellow Conservative colleagues had not imposed a highly unpopular parking tax on motorcyclists in Westminster. It’s never too late to scrap the tax, is it, especially when we have heard that Westminster parking services may be the subject of a major investigation by the District Auditor, following a meeting with the No To Bike Parking Tax campaign committee, scheduled for 3rd November 2009, during which the irregularities and potential breach of EU and Local Government rules on procurement of the Verrus pay by phone parking system and NSL contracts, identified by the campaign, will be discussed.

As the latest mass email from the No To Bike Parking Tax campaign suggests, Westminster parking services can BE AFRAID, VERY AFRAID. This may mark the beginning of a legal procedure against Westminster parking services! And all this because Councillor Danny Chalkley has refused to listen to thousands of motorcyclists over the past 14 months, who have all requested him to SCRAP THE BIKE PARKING TAX. This is what happens when a bureaucrate refuses to listen to the people he has been elected to serve.

Source (click to view):-

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/141549/TRAFFIC-WARDENS-FAKE-PHOTO-EVIDENCE.html

Please join and support the legal fight to get the bike parking tax in Westminster scrapped before it spreads all over the UK and the European Union. The next demonstration is on 31st October 2009, don’t miss it! For further details, visit  http://www.notobikeparkingtax.com/

Soutenez et participez au proces dont le but est de forcer la mairie de Westminster a supprimer la taxe de stationnement des deux-roues avant que le concept ne se propage a travers le Royaume-Uni et l’Union Europeenne. La prochaine manifestation aura lieu le 31 octobre 2009, ne la ratez pas! Pour plus d’informations, consultez http://www.notobikeparkingtax.com/

If you have a story you would like to see published on UKFRANCE.org, please contact us here.

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

We visited Singapore last year and, while looking at our pictures with friends the other day, we remembered that we had taken a couple of photos showing the motorcycle parking facilities over there, 13 hours flight away from Westminster. The pictures were taken in the evening, in a residential area, just a couple of tube stops from the city centre.

Singapore, like Paris and Barcelona, provide excellent parking facilities to motorcyclists, who are seen by the local government as major contributors to reduce road congestion and air pollution. Singapore is a very busy city, the weather is constantly hot and humid, so motorcycles are a great transport solution for many Singaporeans to go shopping, to work or visit friends and family.

Note the amount of space that is provided to each motorcycle. Each bike has its own space, so that it faces very little risk of being damaged by other motorcyclists trying to park their bike in over-crowded bays, as it is the case in Westminster.

For those of you based outside London and the United Kingdom, have a look at the very poor parking facilities offered in Central London, by Westminster City Council, and compare them with the ones provided in Singapore (above), Paris and Barcelona (below).

Westminster motorcycle parking bay

Note that this is what Conservative Councillor Danny Chalkley (the man in charge of parking at Westminster City Council) refers to as “excellent parking services“! We wonder how he would qualify the motorcycle parking services in Paris, Barcelona and Singapore then.

Paris motorcycle parking bay

Barcelona motorcycle parking bay

So far, we haven’t found a single city in the world which offers motorcycle parking facilities worse than the ones in Central London, particularly in the borough of Westminster. And yet, Westminster City Council introduced a stealth tax on motorcycle parking in August 2008, for their third world parking facilities. This tax has been generating a massive amount of income (circa £4 million per annum), but Westminster City Council have decided that motorcycle parking is definitely not worth developing, especially when they keep claiming that 16,000 motorcyclists ride into Westminster every single working day. So those of you who read this blog from outside the United Kingdom, you have every right to be shocked by what is on offer to motorcyclists to park their bike in Central London, especially in the borough of Westminster. And those of you who are based in the UK, you also have every right to let Westminster City Council know what you think of their motorcycle parking facilities (click here to contact them), especially when compared with the ones in Singapore, Barcelona and Paris.

Westminster City Council admitted that they had always wanted to charge motorcyclists for parking, but they didn’t have the technology to do so in the past. Now that they have adopted the awful Verrus pay by phone system, they believe that their motorcycle parking facilities are so excellent that they’re worth charging for. But what Westminster City Council don’t seem to realise, is what motorcyclists and other road users think of the Verrus pay by phone system. The latest comment we have come across is “the [Verrus] pay by phone system is really atrocious and I’m so glad I don’t have to deal with it any more!” (click here to view the source). If, at this stage, you are still not convinced about how bad the Verrus pay by phone system is, then click here, then here again and finally here for more details.

Oh, and for those of you based outside of London (whether in the UK or overseas), don’t even think about travelling to London by motorbike, unless you are very keen to find your bike damaged in the parking bays, or pay a parking tax to Westminster City Council, which will NOT be reinvested into motorcycle parking (click here for further details). But the decision is yours and you will have been warned!

Please join and support the legal fight to get the bike parking tax in Westminster scrapped before it spreads all over the UK and the European Union. The next demonstration is on 30th September 2009, don’t miss it! For further details, visit  http://www.notobikeparkingtax.com/

Soutenez et participez au proces dont le but est de forcer la mairie de Westminster a supprimer la taxe de stationnement des deux-roues avant que le concept ne se propage a travers le Royaume-Uni et l’Union Europeenne. La prochaine manifestation aura lieu le 30 septembre 2009, ne la ratez pas! Pour plus d’informations, consultez http://www.notobikeparkingtax.com/

If you have a story you would like to see published on UKFRANCE.org, please contact us here.

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

The City of San Francisco is reorganizing its planning, transportation, parking, transit, bike and pedestrian functions into a single multi-faceted agency with the goal of reducing the use of private vehicles on city streets.  The move, called transit-first, aims to increase transit use by 30% over the next 20 years.

San Francisco already goes to great lengths to promote public transport at the expense of private modes.  MUNI, the City’s bus and rapid transit agency, is financed, in part, by a tax on off-street parking, parking meter fees, and a local excise tax on cars registered in the City.

Interestingly, Boston already sees half of all work trips to its downtown core made by public transportation and is one of only two major American cities (NYC being the other) where a majority of weekday trips into the City are made by public transportation.  The overwhelming majority of these trips are made by MBTA, especially into Boston’s financial district and Back Bay.

Source article can be found here.

Last December the City of Baltimore added a 3% tax on the charge that users of its parking garages pay.  These funds ($3 million in 9 months) will be used to fund a municipal circulating bus around and between the city’s tourist attractions and some neighborhoods. They city has most likely bonded most of the revenue to fund the $12 million purchase of the buses, with the remainder going to administration and operations.  It would be interesting to know if they plan to contract out the operation, and what tie in, if any, they plan with the Maryland Transportation Authority system.

Besides the Winthrop Square garage in downtown Boston, I don’t know of any city owned garages in Boston.  The revenue from the Boston Common garage goes to the Massachusetts Convention Center.  It is unclear if such a program would work here.  It is also worth noting that San Francisco charges a tax on all off-street parking to help fund MUNI, its local public transportation provider.

link here.

Some time ago, a Freedom of Information request was submitted to Westminster City Council to find out how many Councillors had a free parking permit, in the entire Borough of Westminster, to perform their official duties (click here to view the FOI request). The answer was 35 Councillors were granted free parking permits, of which 31 belong to the Conservative political party.

According to the councillors’ guidance notes, “the City Council’s official parking permits are intended to facilitate parking by Members in the course of their official duties as City Councillors”.

“The Official Parking Permit allows the holder to park without limit in residents bays and shared use bays, and take advantage of the dual use scheme (free parking on meters and Pay and Display bays within the given zone(s) between 8.30-9.30 am and 5.30-6.30 pm)” (source: http://nutsville.com/?p=185).

Another Freedom of Information request has revealed that, of the 31 Conservative Councillors who hold a free Westminster wide parking permit to perform their official duties, only 13 have purchased a resident’s parking permit to enable them to park their car privately, outside of their working hours (click here to view the FOI request). In other words, 18 Conservative Councillors may be parking their car in Westminster outside of their working hours, by taking advantage of their free official parking permit which, according to the councillors’ guidance notes above, is not permitted. Or could it be that all 18 of them benefit from off-street parking at home? We find this very hard to believe.

We assume that the above Freedom of Information requests would not have been submitted and their answers published, if Councillor Danny Chalkley had not introduced a parking tax for motorcyclists in the Borough of Westminster and, more importantly, had not been ignoring the thousands of objections to his motorcycle charging scheme that he received during the past twelve months, since August 2008.

Regrettably, we do not know the names of the Conservative Councillors who might be cheating, but we strongly believe that the ones concerned are well aware of their (delibarate?) omission.

Please join and support the legal fight to get the bike parking tax in Westminster scrapped before it spreads all over the UK and the European Union. The next demonstration is on 30th September 2009, don’t miss it! For further details, visit  http://www.notobikeparkingtax.com/

Soutenez et participez au proces dont le but est de forcer la mairie de Westminster a supprimer la taxe de stationnement des deux-roues avant que le concept ne se propage a travers le Royaume-Uni et l’Union Europeenne. La prochaine manifestation aura lieu le 30 septembre 2009, ne la ratez pas! Pour plus d’informations, consultez http://www.notobikeparkingtax.com/

If you have a story you would like to see published on UKFRANCE.org, please contact us here.

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

1st JULY 2009 is a day where motorcyclists and their supporters will be objecting en masse to the motorbike & scooter parking tax in Westminster. The demonstration will start in Golden Square, London W1 where protestors will gather between 5.45pm and 6.20pm and ride en masse to Westminster City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, London SW1 to hand in their objection to the council, one by one… yes one by one and demand a proof of receipt for EACH objection handed in.

This is one of the few occasions when anybody truly against this stealth tax can have their say, and have that opinion officially noted.

Further details of the mega objection demonstration are available here.

The campaign committee has kindly prepared a form to make the task easier. Simply download the form, print it off, complete it, make one photocopy and take both pieces of paper with you to the demo. Hand in the original to the council on the day and get the photocopy stamped as proof of receipt. Don’t hesitate to get as many people as you can to complete and sign the form! Of course, if you prefer to write your own objection, please feel free to do so, but please make sure that you clearly state in your objection that you are opposed to the motorcycle parking charge scheme going permanent and include your reason(s).

The campaign needs THOUSANDS of people outside Westminster City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, London SW1 from 7pm on Wednesday 1st July 2009 to show Westminster Council that their bike parking tax is not wanted. If you are not a motorcyclist and are opposed to charging bikes to park, please feel free to join in as we will all be on foot outside Westminster City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, London SW1 from 7pm.

In Autumn 2008, Westminster City Council introduced, on an experimental basis, the most toxic piece of anti-bike legislation, that is charging for on-street motorcycle parking. Westminster’s clear intention is to actively encourage any other borough in the UK to join them and stealth tax motorcyclists for parking. WE MUST STOP THIS IMMEDIATELY BEFORE THIS TAX SPREADS ALL OVER THE UK AND DISCOURAGES CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY TO USE A LESS CONGESTANT AND POLLUTANT FORM OF TRANSPORT WHICH IS THE SOLUTION TO ROAD CONGESTION AND REDUCED AIR POLLUTION.

For those of you who are not based in the London region but who, like ourselves, fear that if Westminster City Council get away with this bike parking tax, it will spread all over the country before you even notice it, you can object by e-mail before 2nd July 2009 to TMO5303@westonejv.co.uk quoting reference 5303/ALJ. You must say in your e-mail that you object to the motorcycle parking scheme becoming permanent and state your reasons. You might as well copy in your objection the Conservative Councillor (Danny Chalkley) who introduced this ridiculous and non-sense bike parking tax dchalkley@westminster.gov.uk

Thanks all for your support and hope to see you on 1st July 2009 for a MEGA DEMO against the Westminster motorbike/scooter parking tax. Remember, this is the thin end of the wedge, WESTMINSTER NOW, YOUR COUNCIL NEXT UNLESS WE KILL THIS STEALTH TAX IMMEDIATELY.

By the way, there will be a few French speakers there!

1er Juillet 2009 - Assistez a la manifestation pour protester contre le stationnement payant des deux-roues a Westminster. Pour plus d’informations, consultez www.notobikeparkingfees.com

If you have a story you would like to see published on UKFRANCE, please contact us here.

Mayor Daley at a City Council meeting in November

Yesterday the Mayor had some constructive driving advice: Slow down. The cutbacks in the Chicago city budget hit the Department of Streets and Sanitation pretty hard, which, in turn, will affect snow removal this winter. The Chicago Reader today reported that this is the smallest winter cleanup budget since 2004. Snow removal is no bargain:

“That was only 1.5 inches, 2.5 inches of snow. It’s almost half a million dollars just like that,” Mayor Daley said.

That’s a lot of tax dollars. The main arteries won’t be affected as much as the side streets will be, so be prepared. So if you want to recession-proof your commute, don’t drive. And if you were thinking about parking your car, don’t. Or at least watch out for snow removal zones or quadrupling parking meter fees or the increased parking garage taxes. Oh, and don’t run red lights

But again, this is what has to be done to keep Chicago’s budget afloat without raising property taxes, which is great and all, but there are other costs incurred to us through all of these other “nickel-and-dime” taxes. The thing is, a lot of these things are aimed at inconveniencing area drivers, which could backfire on the city if people do actually start to choose public transit over driving in the loop. But like Daley said when he introduced the budget earlier this fall:

“Make no mistake: This is no ordinary year or years.”

***By the way, I’ve noticed a spike in new readers, so thanks for stopping by!

After a successful trial in Westminster, the Bike Parking Tax will be rolled out permenently in Feb 2009 and is going to be introduced across the rest of the country according to the Westminster Director of Parking.  After the February there will be no problems introducing the scheme to the other 32 boroughs in London and then across the country starting with Birmingham, Liverpool and Peterborough.  In Westminster alone £585,ooo will be raised just be charging bikers to park in the full year from 2008/2009.  

More and more people are turning to bikes and scooters as a cheaper form of transport, what with Road Tax and fuel costs being what thay are, and instead of motorbike and scooter riders being able to enjoy cheaper transport, and being given all due respect for using less fuel, taking up less space and creating fewer emissions, we are now going to be ‘taxed’ in another way..

I ride a bike for 2 reasons:

1.  I love bikes and always have

2.  Its a damn sight cheaper than running a car.

Where is the incentive to turn to bikes as a cheaper form of transport if we are going to get stiffed another way?

If you feel strongly about this then you can sign THIS PETITION and show your displeasure. 

But in all honesty I personally don’t think it will make the blindest bit of difference, its easy money for the Councils and they are all for making easy money.. But I still signed it as I don’t agree with it and its the only way to make my protest at the moment!

* Extend amusement tax to include 135,000 Chicagoans who get their cable TV by installing a satellite dish.

*Raise $9 million by requiring businesses and residential high-rises to purchase annual licenses for their garbage containers at a cost of $80 to $780.

* Increase the public vehicle license fee paid by limousines and charter buses from $200 to $500 from $100.

* Increase parking tax — from $2.25 to $3 — on motorists who pay more than $12 to park.

 * Double daily library fines from 10 cents to 20 cents

Taxes will be on the rise across America for at least the next 4 years! Is this what the American people was hoping for in the way of change?