Can web-savvy riders in Britain beat government Goliaths?

Posted: 16th February 2011 | 2 Comments »

I’ve seen and been involved with many fights for riders’ rights in Britain over the years but to be brutally frank, and no offence intended to my fellow rider rebels with a cause, a lot of these bouts look like absurdly miss-matched battles between a few Minnows and massive shoals of hungry Sharks and Piranhas. But now we are well into the cyberspace age, two key bursts of action show how we have better reasons than ever to be cheerful – even if some lines of communication need the protection of being buried in high-tech bunkers deep underground…

Above ground, riders of scooters and motorbikes may seem like Davids up against bullish Goliaths in government offices. And for sure, we face armies of officers in Teflon suits who do their best to dismiss our demands for better conditions, or impose even more restrictions on what and where we can ride and how much it costs.

But there is one hugely powerful leveller in battles between Davids and Goliaths which I’m delighted to see riders on tough campaign trails using, and with ever greater impact.

We’re not talking high-spec catapults. It’s the internet, combined with the passion and commitment to take to the streets. This cool combo empowers ordinary people. It also enables them to punch above their individual weight in challenging what many of us believe are unacceptable abuses of power by agents of governance throughout developed the world. Obviously, we have smaller threats to our liberty here in the UK than in many other nations. But we do have things that continue to blight our lives and one of those results from the relentless zeal of government agents who are focused on raking in cash from road use even though that is not what we give them power to do. One aspect of that is more than an irritant. It poses a bigger threat to our freedoms to ride in the future than many can see or accept as such and even in the biking and scootering world. What  we should being seeing our road managers do is improving mobility for all by managing traffic in ways that keep it flowing safely and especially for bike and scooter riders as far as I’m concerned. What we actually see them doing more often than not is developing ‘motoring tax’ schemes and scams to rip us off – and allow various buggerations to clag up our roads which makes them worse to ride on not better. So, getting our roads managers to do what they should is an ongoing fight.

But the good news is that two key events have shown how some big rounds can be one in style and despite the odds being stacked in favour of those who want to limit our freedoms to ride. Both are David and Goliath events but because most of the blows were traded on the web, fit and tenacious underdogs have one crucial and cool advantage. There are no ropes to limit the space you fight in.

I will describe the Goliath in these rounds with a modicum of restraint as I am very much in the thick of ‘discussions’ with them in my role as transport policy advisor for MAG – and am involved with various aspects of imminent proceedings in the Court of Appeal. So, for the avoidance of doubt, I’m not suggesting that the Goliath in this story is bad, just big.

It is Westminster City Council, which is said to be the richest in Europe. Whatever, WCC is certainly pioneering a slick new pay-by-phone charging scheme that has already made a ‘surplus’ of around half a million pounds by forcing riders to pay new fees or fines to park bikes on public roads. It has also been deploying mobile CCTV cameras in Smart Cars which the council probably thought would rake in millions. But that operation has virtually ground to a halt and now the cars are hardly used and are making a huge loss. And this is due to the diligence and commitment of the No To Mob riders who have been developing a new and very public spirited sport called Smart CCTV Car Hunting or Schunting.

Meanwhile, one of the chief officers in this Goliath’s army threatened legal action against several people in the David camp of NTBPT campaigners against the bike parking tax scheme – as he felt he had been defamed. This had dramatic results, including a shut down of the NTBPT website and, although I wasn’t the target, even mine went down for for a while too. By the cringe! Other biking bloggers including Nutsville have been in the thick of that and reported their views accordingly.

Anyway, the Davids are easy to describe without risk of writs. Viewed at street level, where their views are regularly made clear, they may appear to be just a bunch of riders on a single issue campaign. And for anyone new to it, the issue in question is simple but crucial:

Can UK councils can use Traffic Act powers lawfully, to impose new charges for parking in bike bays that have already been established for that purpose on public highways?

The high Court recently ruled yes, but the Court of Appeal will revue that on March 14-15th on at least six grounds to overturn it – and could rule no. There are similar questions to answer about the spread of mobile CCTV cameras in Smart cars, that are in theory only trying to ‘manage traffic’. My arse. And to limit confusion, the main reason to oppose what many bikers including me see as the development and spread of more motorcycling taxes, is not a reluctance to pay dues – it is a nasty pair of problems.

‘Problem’ 1. UK councils are prohibited by law from imposing new bike parking charges to raise revenues.

Consequent problem 2. New parking fees schemes can only be legally justified by a ‘need’ for extra measures to ‘manage demand’ for road use by bikers.

But the nasty core of such ‘justifications’ for new bike user charges is the same as cars. Using them is BAD, so measures of constraint are GOOD. Oh, and especially if a raising riders’ costs makes a surplus, aka profit. So, any council wanting more cash from riders has a powerful new incentive to emphasise all the bad things they can about motorbikes and scooters. Bad news for biking in Britain? You Bet.

But as said earlier, there is something special about these particular Davids and where they fight that sets them apart from all other rider campaign groups I have ever seen. It is their exceptionally skilled and effective use of the internet, both as the main channel for communication of their news and views via the NTBPT website, and regular calls to big and small demos – via email, Facebook and Twitter. To be clear though, there is vigorous debate in the motorcycling policy lobby about the merits and potential downsides of some of the things they do or say, but that is a matter for another time. The key facts for now are that they have already raised over £60,000 to take WCC to the Courts. A first ruling that WCC did not act unlawfully is set for revue in the Court of Appeal in March on at least six grounds, and could be overturned.

Anyway, in essence, the latest round in this fight involved threats to sue the No-To Chairman, his committee and the company that hosted their website. Understandably, the web hosting company did not fancy being sued so they pulled the plug on the NTBPT website and it fell from view. The Davids were down, but as it turned out, not out. The towel did not get thrown in.

Within about 60 hours the whole site was re-assembled and a host found that is in the world’s Super Heavyweight class. Somehow, they enable the WikiLeaks whistle blowing website to carry on publishing stuff that governments of super-power states would prefer to keep behind closed doors. Somehow, I think the NTBPT site will be kept going too.

So, here’s my summary of this round. As I have said before, I will not condone anyone breaking laws that protect the freedoms that all individuals are entitled to have preserved. But seeing a bunch of bikers continue using the internet to fight their corner, in the face of a Goliath doing all it can to stop them, is quite impressive to say the least. A special event for sure. Some might even say it’s inspiring. But I’ll leave it to you to decide what it makes you feel. As to what happens next, all I can say for now is that the case and the fight continues, and I’ll see you in court if you go!

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