Appeal against Westminster Bike Park Tax gets go-ahead from Lord Justice Jackson…. On six out of seven grounds!

Every now and then I have a truly happy moment, sometimes two or three come in a day…

As many CrossroadsRider readers will know, fighting for fair treatment of scooter and motorbike riders can be a thankless task, whether you do your bit on the streets or behind the scenes. And, finding reasons to be cheerful is tough right now as UK Councils face big cuts and wonder if they can use Westminster’s super slick pay-by-phone bike parking scheme to turn riders into the same type of target for highly profitable parking taxes as car drivers. But every now and then we are privileged to experience a magic moment that makes it all seem worthwhile. Yesterday I had more than one.

The first was news from Warren of NTBPT that  Lord Justice Jackson has granted leave for an appeal against a High Court ruling that Westminster City Council were entitled to use Traffic Act powers to pioneer a new bike parking tax – in preparation for selling it as a ‘service’ to any UK council in need of a new source of cash. And, although some folk saw it as a victory for WCC and wannabe bike parking taxers, I was convinced it was a hollow one. In fact, from the day of that ruling I’d said it was only a matter of time till the extremely odd conclusions in it were called into question – because in my view they were deeply flawed. It’s been a long three months since then though, so it is now a huge relief to know that the questioning can start in earnest, thanks to the decision by The Rt Hon. Lord Justice Jackson who has raised concern about rising legal costs limiting access to justice by ordinary people, and who was recently quoted by the Law Society Gazette as saying:

“Access to Justice entails that those with meritorious claims are able to bring those claims before the courts for judicial resolution or post-issue settlement, as the case may be.”

Then I spoke to Philip Coppel QC, the Barrister who had submitted the request for an appeal. Due to an odd quirk of circumstances he hadn’t yet heard the news before I rang. So my second magic moment was hearing his very chuffed response when I told him that leave to appeal was granted. But a third MM followed in quick succession as I read out the Order from the Judge that said: “Permission to appeal is granted on grounds 1 to 6,” which triggered quite a loud whooping noise and some colourful exclamations from our learned friend. But the best noise and best moment for me came when I read out the bit that explained that although an appeal on ground 7 was refused at this stage, it went on to say that if the appellant makes a renewed application on that ground, “this should be dealt with by the full court at the hearing of the appeal.”

Put simply, what this means effectively is that every one of the grounds for appeal against the first High Court judgement has been accepted as a good reason for re-examining the entire first ruling, AND thereby opening several doors through which the whole twisted caboodle can be chucked out. And to put this in to context, having leave to appeal on one ground alone is jolly good news as the rules for doing so are simple. The Court of Appeal can only grant permission to review and potentially quash a judgement if it thinks the appeal would have “a real prospect of success”, or there is “some other compelling reason why the appeal should be heard.”

The last magic moment of my day was on the 18th floor of Westminster City Hall no less. There, for my sins, I was attending the first meeting of the Council’s Road User Forum as the Transport Policy Advisor for MAG. And so it came to pass that I was able to tell its chairman, Cllr Lee Rowley and known associate officer Kieran Fitzall, that despite the council’s best efforts to get an appeal against the High Court decision rejected, permission had been granted for it to go-ahead. Every now and then I have a truly happy moment, sometimes two or three come in a day…