Police, Camera, Action! But who is calling for the shots of protesters against bike parking taxes, Top Cops or two Greedy Piggies in two City Halls?

Up until now, the MET police in London have been more accommodating towards riders protesting against Westminster’s regressive cash-cow bike parking tax, than any other single issue riders campaign I have ever seen. So I was a tad surprised last week to see a highly visible video cop adding a new and potentially intimidating element in their responses to protest rides organised by the NTPBT.

But my latest info from sources close to the MET and Westminster insiders suggests that there  may have been some string pulling by the sharp trading leader of Westminster City council and his big business chum and deputy Mayor of London. And, if so, there may be a radically different explanation for what might really be going on…

Barrow + Cash Crop

Whatever the truth may be, one thing’s for sure as you can see from this latest film report. It looks like the MET decided to make a potentially imposing show of making a video record of protesters and police attempts to deal with them. But, as is often the way with this twisted saga, all is not what it may seem.

It turns out that the getting-richer-quick millionaire leader of Westminster Council, Colin Barrow, is a chum and business partner of Kit Malthouse, a premier league political bruiser, former WCC Cllr, and wannabe Tory Grandee. The barrow boy is top dog at Westminster City Hall and has several sources of income, although at least one biking blogger has questioned his accountability regarding some of them. Anyway, one wonger making option is wheeling and dealing as a Hedge Fund company Director – and the latest of these highly profitable ventures is Alpha Strategic where he is Executive Chairman & his big Mate Kit is Finance Director. But two other sources of cash for Barrow have taken months of diligent follow ups to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to reveal the truth.

Cop-watch Chum Malthouse

First, it was eventually revealed that in addition to his ‘Basic’ councillor allowance of £10,250, he got a handy £37,639.55 in 2009, for ‘special’ expenses making a total of around £48,000. And, equally handily, as the this FOI string finally confirmed in Feb 2010, (!) following a formal complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office, his decision to liquidate one of his Hedge Fund companies called Eiger Capital, meant that he was no longer legally obliged to pay £19,186.71 in business rates owed to none other than Westminster Council. So, in round figures, Cllr Colin effectively trouserred a cool £68,000 of rate payers cash in 2009.

Meanwhile, his business associate Kit Malthouse is technically second in line to the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. But the scale of power Malthouse really has behind the scenes could be higher than a typical ‘number two’ for a few key reasons. Not least of these is that the Conservative party got rather fed up with seeing Boris, their Golden boy Mayor, rapidly establish a bad reputation for losing deputies for  unseemly reasons. Losing one deputy mayor might be considered unfortunate, two careless – but three in a year is a bit too far beyond the pale. So Malthouse was brought in as a “Boris hit man” to very much stick around in City Hall and get the Mayor’s ship back on as straight and narrow a path as possible.

However, the most significant thing about Malthouse for riders opposing Westminster’s plan to tax us to park, may be that he recently acquired new and potentially all encompassing powers over the police. When London Mayor Boris Johnson got ‘too busy’ to Chair the MET police authority as he famously vowed he would, he ‘stepped down’ so Malthouse could be shoe horned into the job at the end of last year.

This move was however far from free of critical comment as Malthouse had “missed key police meetings” up until then. But almost as soon as the mayor’s new deputy dawg began his new cop-watch role he fuelled even more controversy over the extent of his powers to influence the direction of policing in London.

Understandably, many in the MET were not amused. Right from the start of Malthouse taking charge of overseeing the MET a great deal of concern grew among senior officers. Some were “aghast at politicians meddling in their business”. But the stuff really hit the fan when the Mayor’s hit-man Malthouse infamously declared that he and the Conservative party had now got their “hands on the tiller” of the MET police force in London. In fact this prompted a “warning” from the MET’s chief that the claim by Malthouse could pave the way for ‘lunatics or the BNP winning control of the police’.

Now I have seen no hard evidence to prove any truth in rumous that the MET police have been heavily lent on to change the way that protests against WCC’s bike parking tax are policed – or that such pressure was applied by somebody with big clout in Mayor Johnson’s City Hall. Nor have I seen any proof  that the leader of the London council that is trying to pioneer a new parking tax for motorcycle and scooter riders has asked his mate and business partner – who had claimed to have his hands on the tiller of the MET, to either arrest the NTBPT protesters as a way of stopping them cause huge disruption to traffic on a weekly basis, or do something new to try and dissuade them from drawing attention to their beef with the rich burghers of Westminster. So, of course, I couldn’t possible suggest that such rumors are true. Nor would I even dream of doing so. Yet.

As ever I will leave it up to readers and riders to make what sense of this they can, and will welcome any further news or thoughts you may have…

One set of rules for riders and another for our rule-makers and enforcers?

I frequently walk by this M/C parking bay, but the scene I saw this week got me thinking about rules. Who makes ‘em, what for – in theory and really – and who has to abide by The Rules and who can get away with flouting them…

The first thing that started me thinking in that direction was the surprise of seeing how full this bay was on a dark cold drizzly night – having approached it from behind the sign. And, I guess I should explain that the bay is usually fairly empty these days, but not because riders in London don’t go out in the cold or at night. In fact this bay used to be rammed full to overflowing pretty much 24/7. But that all stopped when Westminster began their ‘experimental’ scheme to try and force all scooter and motorbike riders to pay a new parking tax – which they did by changing the rules in all of the few M/C bays in the central area of London where the council make the rules. And to keep the picture clear despite the murky photos, bays like this one that were designated for bike parking without risk of fines for ‘illegal’ parking, are inadequately scattered amongst the acres of road space that are covered by parking rules which are to ‘manage traffic’ in theory. But in reality of course, the main reason for these rules is to keep the money flowing in from the Cash Cow that parking enforcement has become.

Anyway, it is also clear from these pictures, and loads more here, that the scallywags who have defaced the new scheme signs have broken some rules in a rebellious effort to invalidate the enforcement of a bike parking tax in that location. And I gather that this particular type of signage customisation/ vandalism is called ‘Rathboning’ as these acts are attributed to a mysterious ‘Captain Rathbone’ – and a loose collection of pirates who keep doing these dastardly deeds. However, as I said before, I am not in a position to condone such rule-breaking for various reasons, not least of which is my concern that such activities could harm the reputation of ‘bikers’ and scooterists in London. But what I can and will say is that these Rathboners are not the only bunch involved with this new riders’ tax who seem to be breaking rules.

I have seen the full range of formalised complaints against the pioneers of this new bike parking tax scheme, and the evidence to back such claims. Most of this has been gathered and submitted by a dedicated few in the NTBPT. But the claims and evidence that triggered an EU Commission investigation has come from very big international players in the parking enforcement business who are very aggrieved by what they claim is very serious rule-breaking indeed. So, from what I’ve seen, I can say that all sorts of rules may well have been bent or broken, in order to get this new tax imposed for the moment on the central streets of London.

But now it seems we’re at a point where reactions to rules and rule-breaking are getting complicated. Having seen the initial rounds of formal responses from the organisations who are supposed to investigate claims about rule breaking and take action to stop it, or chuck out anything that is wrongly achieved by it, it looks like some of them are trying to wriggle out of doing their job. Currently, it would seem that the Office of Fair Trading is suggesting that it would be best if they let the EU Commissioners  investigate complaints that the bike park tax pioneers at WCC may have flouted rules to ensure that trading in Britain is actually fair. Frankly I’m not convinced about that but not being an expert on fair trading laws I’m not qualified to say, but I gather that the NTBPT are in touch with bods who can.

Currently, the OFT are not alone in resisting calls for action. Other official bodies who have been asked to investigate potential rule-breaking behind the scenes by the bike tax pioneers, are also trying to buy some time before getting on with investigations. And, in a way this is understandable as they are run by civil servants in outfits like like the Department of Communities and Local Government and the Audit Commission, where all will be wondering if they’ll still have a job after the next election.

So, for now, it is clear that some rules about defacing signs are being broken on the street by individuals who feel that such actions are their best or perhaps only path left for expressing their views about a new bike parking tax. What is far less clear though is whether those who have made new rules to tax riders have broken even more behind the facade of Westminster City Hall. We will also have to wait and see if the public servants who are responsible for investigating rule breakers do their job as well and fairly as they should. Personally, I very much hope they do in due course. But I will not be holding my breath in the mean time – and will be doing what I can to encourage all concerned to respect the rules that deserve respecting most…

All Quiet On The Westminster front?* Maybe not for long as Rage Against the Machine shows how the powers of smug directors to control ‘pubic opinion’ can be challenged by meek and lowly individuals…

As supporters of the Rage Against the Machine campaign have just shown, even the most powerful and smug controllers of what the public have to accept here in Britain, can be humbled by effective protests that are coordinated via the internet.

Getting those who have great influence to make better distinctions between having the power to manipulate, ‘control’ or simply ignore public opinion – and whether they are right to use it for their own ends – is always a battle. But it sure feels good to see one of those battles won for a change in the music world.

And, albeit on a smaller scale, I think this has an intriguing relevance to the ongoing saga of Westminster City Council’s (WCC) attempts to pioneer new high-tech systems to tax riders of motorbikes and scooters – by making them pay to park on the public roads that they have already paid many times over to use. I have just learned that Cllr Danny Chalkley has now got the latest and final version of his ‘Officer’s Report‘ in to consider.

This reviews events so far, as far as the council officers see them, and recommends whether WCC should make their ‘experimental’ rider’s tax permanent. Danny had asked for a re-write of the previous version of report which recommended going ahead with the new tax. That followed various private meetings and comments from NTBPT, MAG, BMF, and yours truly. This demand for a re-write prompted a glimmer of hope for some of us that sense would at last prevail and the power of arguments that a new UK rider’s tax would do far more harm than good, would finally be recognised. But no…

I have now read the report and can tell you that all it’s author did was add a few spurious responses to key criticisms and the recommendation to go-ahead with this potential new stealth-tax stands. Critically though, and I have already told Danny this, some of these responses will create a new focus for problems if, as I suspect they will, WCC decide to plough on with trying to get away with keeping this new revenue stream flowing. I gather though that DC’s decision will now be made early in the new year, so more on that when it happens. In the meantime, I will carry on with my reflections on recent doings.

From what I have seen so far, on the inside and the outside, it strikes me that there are strong parallels between the way that Simon Cowell of X Factor fame carries on – and the contemptuous attitudes to public opinion that are exhibited by some in Westminster who are involved with pushing this regressive tax on users of Powered Two Wheelers (PTW) – which are IMHO a vital, green and highly efficient mode of transport – especially in our congested towns and cities. However, it is worth noting that although Cowell has a bit of egg on his face, he is doubtless a great deal richer nevertheless – and smart enough to continue raking in loads more cash. And frankly, if folks want to keep spending their hard-earned on keeping Simon in the luxurious lifestyle to which he is accustomed, so be it. I am not a fan of telling anyone what to do with their cash.

What I’m still pondering though is how far the parallels may run. Will the sometimes smug controllers inside Westminster City Hall get away with no egg on face? There could well be a lot of egg to come from various sources. These include the ongoing and escalating campaign of protests organised by NTBPT and splinter groups like the RATS – and the outcomes from various legal challenges that are already being investigated and one that is waiting in the wings if the scheme goes permanent.

Perhaps most important question of all though is whether Westminster’s controllers are smart enough to cut and run if that is actually the best thing to do for all concerned, or to try and dig themselves into the trenches while they keep raking in the cash no matter how much egg gets thrown.

Far be it for me to predict or proscribe what will happen next, but I just found a little something that may show how smart or inappropriately smug the bike park tax pioneers are. While on a hunt for something else on the web, I found some extraordinary admissions by our hero/villain of the hour, Alistair Gilchrist. Now I doubt that any of these will surprise those who read my musings – but the fact that they are just sitting there may at the very least raise a wry smile. Anyway, according to Alistair, Westminster City Council were the bad boys on the UK’s billion pound parking enforcement industry block back in 2003. He made this admission as the senior officer responsible for parking services in a recent conference and his Power Point Presentation can be seen in all its glory here.

Alistair was clearly so confident at the time about the council’s plans to expand the scope of parking tax schemes that he showed examples of public anger at the council’s abuse of its power in the ‘bad old days’ – and this note (left) of what some of the public really think about promises that all will be fine in the future. The question now is, was he right to be so confident then or now?

It seems to me that despite great efforts to rid themselves of that ‘bad boy’ parking cash-cow squeezing image, the reputation of those in charge of parking controls in the heart of London could be about to plunge to even greater depths. If it soldiers on with this new tax scheme, the council will have to face more battles and on several fronts. The audit commission has begun investigating the way that contracts were awarded to Verrus, and the EU Commissioners are about to start their own investigation into other complaints about the way hat this was handled.

So, all of us who are concerned with or about the prospect of new taxes for PTW riders are left with a few questions to consider. Will Westminster City Council now decide that it’s ‘experiment’ to impose a new tax on motorbikes and scooter riders is not really the best way to go – and especially in very tough times for most of us? Or, will they continue to try and get away with making it a permanent and growing part of UK life for riders, and a new source of revenue stream for a council near you? Or, lastly for now, will rage against this new tax machine prototype become the ultimately decisive factor?

* This headline has a root in the title of a film & book called All Quite On The Western Front. This is in part about gaps in understanding of reality between front line fighters & those in power who create situations in which hard battles sometimes need to be fought and won. There are many plot reviews out there but this summary has fewer ads for dentistry and explains the title in the end.

Hope y’all had a Happy Christmas for those who believe in that sort of thing, and have a Cool Yule & New Year for those with faith in other reasons to be cheerful!