Court upholds Westminster Bike Parking Charge

I've read a lot about this over the past few months , is it really worth whining about a pound a day to park !

The trouble is when motorcyclists get their teeth into a minor issue like this it makes it more difficult to act when there is a serious issue at stake like power limits etc.

It's just one pound a day, get over it guys n gals. 

Posted: 16/07/2010 at 15:38

it might be a only a pound to start with but you just know it'll shoot up soon enough

if they want to charge for bike parking make sure you take up a car space , if everyone did that it would have a big impact

Posted: 16/07/2010 at 16:00

It is only a pound and until it changes i think we should just leave it be , a lot of effort and no hope of winning a legal challenge. 

Posted: 16/07/2010 at 16:35

What right have they got to charge anyone to park on the road, otherwise known as the Queens Highway? It doesn't cost them to maintain it, not like a car park where there is some justification. Road maintance is paid for by road tax and council tax, paying for parking on the road is purely revenue generation.

Posted: 16/07/2010 at 17:00

It's not about the money! This is an all for profit stealth tax. They've made hundreds of thousands of pounds from us already and spent 14000 on bike pays.

It's £1 a day now and I'm told in some parts of westminster its just been put up to £1 for 4 hours. And so it starts. They know once they get it past the sheeple and make it law they can charge what they like... and it will be coming to a town near you and by then it will be too late!

Posted: 16/07/2010 at 18:54

Not good.

Not good at all. That's what I was afraid of. The injustice of it all being given the green light by the law makers themselves. Should we all keel over and join the sheeple? Hell, NO.

It's one quid today, in 3 years, it will be 5 quid! No thank you!! The resistance to this injustice should continue.

Posted: 16/07/2010 at 19:44

mmmmmmmmmmmmm

the courts siding with the council ???

didnt see that one comming! lol

Posted: 16/07/2010 at 20:11

 I think deep down we all knew what the outcome would be! It's just a shame we had to spend so much money to get the answer. The judges and the politicians are all in each others back pockets and all have the same agenda. It will only get more expensive from here and all these people bleating about it “only being a pound" will start to wobble when it's a tenner a day and by that stage it will be too late and have spread across the country.

At least the demo's will carry on and I encourage you all to go to at least one. In my ten years in London those were the best biking events I've ever been to. Scooters, Harleys and sports bike all in a symphony or revs and horns and the camaraderie was simply amazing. I felt like I was back at Mugello Motogp. I will definitely be flying back to London purely for another one! The one thing we do have on our side is numbers and that’s what rattles them! Keep on fighting guys, you make me proud to be a biker!

Posted: 17/07/2010 at 08:35

In Launceston, Australia

The local council tried to introduce a by-law where bikes could not share with a car or other bike. The local bikey gang and a local motorcycle club got together for a morning a week (peak trading day) and parked out a block in the CBD (a small town of about 70,000 then).

The by-law was scrapped. These days they have started to provide free parking for motor bikes in well placed bike bays!

Melbourne allows bike parking on the footpath, so there is free parking everywhere. Check out 481 Elizabeth St, Melbourne, VIC, Australia on Google Maps (Its a bike shop, there are others further down the road)

I wouldn't take the legal option - civil protest is far cheaper ...

Posted: 17/07/2010 at 12:45

Timpster - when the Congestion Charge came in it was £4 a day and the day it was introduced Red Ken stated he could see no reason why it would be increased within the next five year, a year later it was £5! Now it's £8 soon to be £10 to make up for the "loss of revenue" from the scrapping of the western extension. IT'S ALL ABOUT REVENUE GENERATION - nothing else. I guarantee that withing 12 months the Westminster Bike Parking charge will increase, and by then it will be too late to change anything. It needs nipping in the bud NOW.

Posted: 19/07/2010 at 13:41

Ignore Timpster. If he sees no problem with adding another 240 quid to his yearly commuting expenses, he's clearly got more money than sense. Yup, that's another 240 quid just for the privilege of going to work.

Like others say, once the precedent for charging has been set, it's only going to go up - and guaranteed at a far greater rate than our salaries will.

Posted: 19/07/2010 at 14:25

Not sure if it could work in London but seem to recall a similar issue in Whitby some yrs ago.

Basically the council wanted to charge the same for bikes to park as cars.

So, early one summer morning, local motorcyclists legitimately filled the car parks, one bike per car bay. With no visitor/tourist car spaces available there was hell on from local business, and the council soon backed down.

Obviously London is a much bigger (and more expensive) but wonder if a similar legal but disruptive action may have a greater effect than the entirely predictable court response.

Just imagine, one day with no car parking available at all in Westminster, that would soon be noticed!

Posted: 19/07/2010 at 15:31

only a pound today, £2.00 next year and in 10 years £2 per hoour

Posted: 20/07/2010 at 14:42

you can oly do that in the evening when parking after 630pm is free for all. Bikes taking all parking bays would soon get 1000's of incoming traffic nowhere to park - but you'd all have to sit on yer bikes as am sure some of them arsey car drivers from **sex would lift yer bike out the way

Posted: 20/07/2010 at 14:48

now moan its going up to £650 a year as of the 23 october 2011 are you going to pay it

Posted: 27/09/2011 at 19:58

i have STOPPED going in central London, for those who enjoy going in there or for work then I guess it is a different story - but if NO-ONE used the bays - perhaps they would think again?

Posted: 27/09/2011 at 21:57