Posted: 21st June 2010 | 5 Comments »
Sometimes it’s great to be proved wrong. I have learned this more during the evolution of the NTBPT campaign than ever before. Like a number of people in the UK motorcycling world I have seen more than my fair share of hopes for progress, within the worlds of riders’ rights groups and related policy shapers, cut back or dashed. And, like some of my seasoned colleagues who have done all sorts over the years to improve government responses to rider’s issues, I have had moments of grave doubt about the advisability or even possibility of plans for action made by the NTBPT – under the passionate leadership of it’s chairman Warren Djanogly and his extraordinarily dedicated and multi-talented supporters.
And one of those moments was when I first heard about the idea of a mass demo ride all the way round the M25. I can’t remember exactly what I said to Warren and his committee but I think it went along lines like these: “You must be mad mate, that is one helluva an undertaking for an experienced rider’s rights organisation – let alone a new single issue campaign group.” And, like others, I added a few words of caution on the basis that the whole thing could go horribly wrong and do far more damage to the image of riders than good for our cause – and especially those with the courage or temerity to stand up and be counted in opposing a new and potentially nationwide tax on using scooters and motorbikes in the UK.
But the fact is that there was a spectacular demonstration of rider power to object in a legal and peaceful protest on Saturday – and it did not go wrong as various films show – with more to follow. In fact it all went right, it went right out of London and right round by The 120 mile Long Way Round, and right into the centre of the capital where the regressive and unjustifiable bike parking tax is currently in place. I can also report as an eye witness that it was given the thumbs-up by the police at every stage of the whole epic journey.
It is of course impossible to say what impact that particular demo will have on those who are still trying to find reasons to persist with a new tax on scooter and motorbike use. But one thing is sure for me. Every one of the thousands of riders who took part in this latest demo, on every type of scooter or motorbike imaginable, will have a stunningly clear picture of what is possible. And, the boundaries of what riders can know is possible have just been extended by miles.
Obviously, we will now have to wait and see what the three judges at the High Court make of the case against Westminster’s use of Traffic Orders to impose a new tax. But whatever the outcome from their first ruling after 2-3 days of deliberation, riders in Britain now know there is yet another way to make a legitimate and hugely impressive demonstration of their dissatisfaction with a step in the wrong direction, in this case by a few misguided souls who want to pioneer and spread a new ‘motorcycling policy measure’ under the cover of Traffic Management Act legislation, even though – as we all know – it is really just a TAX.
Posted: 27th March 2010 | 6 Comments »
In case you haven’t seen or heard, the French have been revolting again. This has been well documented by fellow biking blogger UK France Bikers and by Bikes in the Fast Lane among others.
Of course we all know that the French are second to none when it comes being revolting. Demos, strikes and riots can be triggered by almost anything. But mass disruption on the streets becomes almost inevitable if their politicians take a break from having affairs and talking bollocks in French – and try to do something that limits civil liberties. Even rider’s civil liberties. And, for reasons that I will explain shortly, news that 40,000 or so riders of motorbikes and scooters have been jamming traffic as only they know how, reminded me of a poem by a good friend of mine. Once, long ago, he was sent to jail for upsetting the English establishment by publishing a magazine they didn’t like called OZ. Then he published a top selling bike magazine for a while back in the 1970s before making shed loads of dosh by publishing other magazines throughout the world. And his poem starts like this…
I love the French – the bastards,
I love the French – the swine,
I galls me to admit it,
But how I love their wine…
Read more…
But any chance I might have had to forget how good the French are at revolting, or how much better they are at it than us in the UK was completely buggered the other night. I was trying to have a quiet beer with the NTBPT Chairman Warren Djanogly, to catch-up and discuss what’s been happening but…
“WE SHOULD BE LIKE THE FRENCH” shouted W. THEY DON”T MUCK ABOUT WHEN THEY DON’T LIKE SOMETHING, THEY TAKE TO THE STREETS IN THEIR TENS OF THOUSANDS AND THAT’S WHAT WE SHOULD BE DOING HERE! OUR BIKERS SHOULD BE LIKE FRENCH BIKERS!
W went on on this theme for some considerable time and at a volume that could quite possible be heard in France, even though we were actually drinking in my favourite watering hole in Soho, which incidentally, my now poetic chum Felix Dennis was a founder member of, along with some of his mates.
Anyway, I tried to explain to Warren that we were not in France. And that while I accept that all bikers and scooterists have much in common these days, I also tried to suggest that UK riders have not been in the same high profile Street Fighting Man league as the French are for a very long time – if ever. The nearest we got was probably back the 1960s, when mods and rockers were embroiled in headline grabbing ‘clashes’ and bouts of bashing seven bells out of each other.
However, W was having none of this and carried on shouting that UK bikers SHOULD BE LIKE FRENCH BIKERS! ETC.! So, with all due respect to a man of passion in mid-rant I drank my beer with good cheer – and quietly had random thoughts about what we do and don’t have in common with our sometimes allies and sometimes enemies across the channel. And that’s when I began to recall the poem that in my view sums up our love hate relationship with them rather well.
But yesterday, as I started writing my next column for MSL along such lines, I realised that there were stronger links between the cause of the latest outburst of biker’s rebellion in France and the trigger for my old mate’s brief stay in jail. Right now, French riders are protesting big-style against a smart arse move to fine them for doing things that French and UK riders have done for years – and to benefit of all road users most of the time. It’s called filtering or ‘lane splitting’ as the French authorities choose to call it.
But the reason for big trouble now is not because filtering has been made illegal in France – it’s because some bright spark has come up with a money-spinning way of using camera systems to ‘enforce’ the laws against it that have been quietly ignored for decades. As you may imagine, the promoters of this new application of an old and unused law are trying desperately hard to claim it’s all in the name of good old road safety. But it seems that riders in France have one thing to say about that which is: My derriere!
Meanwhile, back in the days of OZ, the law that Felix and his co ‘conspirators’ was prosecuted for breaking was one that had not been applied in living memory. According to the establishment, he and his chums were ‘conspiring to corrupt’ the morals of young people and were being prosecuted under obscenity laws. But in reality the real corruption was within the ranks of those who were supposed to be upholding and enforcing such laws as this article reveals. It also turns out, forty years on, that none of the kids who were supposed to be protected from the infamous schoolkids issue by enforcing old laws were never in any danger from publications by Dennis or any of his old chums.
Now we can be sure of that about the poet and I am equally sure that eventually we will find that the ‘dangers’ that French authorities claim they wish to protect road users from by fining riders for filtering are just as exaggerated…
And one of those moments was when I first heard about the idea of a mass demo ride all the way round the M25. I can’t remember exactly what I said to Warren and his committee but I think it went along lines like these: “You must be mad mate, that is one helluva an undertaking for an experienced rider’s rights organisation – let alone a new single issue campaign group.” And, like others, I added a few words of caution on the basis that the whole thing could go horribly wrong and do far more damage to the image of riders than good for our cause – and especially those with the courage or temerity to stand up and be counted in opposing a new and potentially nationwide tax on using scooters and motorbikes in the UK.
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