No To the Bike Parking Tax

As a commercial venture or organisation supporting the NTBPT Campaign, with your logo on our website, you will understand the benefits to be obtained by using such a marketing media, and in turn, where there has been a cross exchange of logos, so does our campaign benefit.

However, purely from the Campaign’s point of view, being unfunded, our best marketing tool has been the distribution of logo-ed Hi-viz vests [FULL DETAILS HERE] that have been so readily worn by our supporters not just on demos, but everyday on the streets. Attracting people to our website in this manner has brought a wider audience to your logo, and it is with this in mind that we now write.

At our next demo on Tuesday, June 9th 2009 [FULL DEMO DETAILS HERE], we are aiming to give more focus to the end by organising an after-demo gathering of "Hi-viz bib wearers" in Golden Square, where they will be treated to burgers/hot dogs and non-alcoholic drinks.

We are looking to you guys for a donation of either:

1) £50 (to be a tertiary sponsor, or "Supporter" on all literature.
2) £100 (to be named as a "support" sponsor)
3) £250 (to be a MAIN sponsor)

Please can you contact [email protected] or reply directly to this email with your commitment level.

Many thanks in advance for your continued support

Best,

Warren Djanogly – Chairman of the No To the Bike Parking Tax Campaign
[email protected]
07802 882 681

PS. Please can you publicise the next demo "Loopy Tuesday" whatever means possible, the message needs to get out there! Full demo details are here http://notobikeparkingfees.com/events/ there will also be a pre-meet ride from the Ace Cafe London meeting 3:45pm which will then join the main demonstration group at Berkeley Square, timings, meeting points, route all up on the campaign website.

In this email:

• Invitation to resident’ meeting.

Hello to Westminster Residents against the Motorcycle and Scooter Parking Tax.

If you want to help to defeat Westminster’s Motorcycle Parking Tax, then I hope you can spare a moment or two to read through, below.

My name is Martin, and like you, I am a Westminster *Resident* who has been campaigning against Westminster City Council’s Motorcycle Parking Tax (aka "Chalkley’s Tax"). I have recently been invited to join the "No To Bike Parking Tax" Committee, as an additional "Resident" representative, with the aim of trying to galvanise the support from the local Residents (and Retailers) against this Tax, and, from our position as Electors in Westminster, help ramp up pressure on WCC to scrap the Tax.

A quick bit about me, first. I live in the "West End" Ward of Westminster. Along with my wife, we have been active in the NTBPT campaign since the start, beginning with visiting our local Ward Councillors (with little effect) when the Notices first appeared next to M/C bays just 2 weeks before the charging started (in Zone G). We also started up a Petition, calling for "sufficient & secure parking for motorcycles for free", later in 2008, which was formally presented to the Council in January 2009, and was "considered" as part of the Objection process. My wife rides a small scooter, which she uses to get to / from work, and, whilst I am not a motorcycle rider myself, I fervently believe that Chalkley’s Tax needs to be defeated, and have spent many hours flyering bikes, and attending the Demos – mostly on my bicycle – you may have spotted me and my "bike" on the Demos, or had one of my flyers attached to your bike!?

I think it is disgraceful that the Council has tried to disguise a blatant revenue raising scheme with all its spin and misinformation. That they have (so far) taken about £3 Million from the pockets of motorcyclists, for actual parking increases which cost around £23,000 is a scandal, when motorcycles help to reduce congestion & harmful CO2 emissions.

So…

What can YOU do to help? Firstly, attend the Demos against the Tax!

See you on "Loopy Tuesday" – Tuesday 9th June as already advertised!! Go to the campaign website for full details.

However, as Westminster Council seem to think that this is primarily a campaign by commuters from outside of Westminster, hopefully we can also show them that there is strong feeling against the Tax from their own Residents, Residents’ Associations and local Retailers.

The NTBPT Committee and I do not pretend to have all of the ideas to combat this Tax, so although I/we have some thoughts, we would very much like to hear from YOU, with YOUR ideas for the campaign, YOUR suggestions for action (within the law), etc! What are we doing right? What are we doing wrong?

Invitation to residents’ meeting. PLEASE RSVP.

To this end, I would like to invite you to write to me with your thoughts and ideas, and I would also like to arrange some Meetings for us to get together, to get to know each other, to work out ways in which we can help to beat this Tax, and will also be an opportunity for you to find out what else is happening. To get the ball rolling, you are hereby invited to:

Residents’ Meeting : Wednesday 3rd June at 6:30pm at:

One Alfred Place
1 Alfred Place
London WC1E [MAP]

My contact details : martin@notobikeparkingfees.com you can reply direct to this email to contact me.

Given that there were some 150+ official Objections (plus others who signed up to the Petition), there are probably many Residents in each of Westminster’s 20 Wards who are already involved in this campaign. Perhaps we can get like-minded who live near each other, in the same Wards, to spearhead a more local campaign – to generate your own local Petitions, to raise your concerns with you local Ward Councillors, to contact local Residents’ Associations and Retailers. Maybe you see other scooters and motorcycles locally, and have always wondered whether they, too, were active in supporting this campaign? Etc.

So .. please try to make it along to the Residents Meeting (see above), and I would also love to hear from ALL of you – let me know who you are, which WARD (if you’re not sure, then plug your postcode in on the Westminster Council website, to find out), whether you have a Residents’ Parking Permit for your bike(s), whether you’ve been getting PCNs (Parking Tickets), other problems, etc., etc?

Together, we CAN help to defeat Chalkley’s Tax, to once again make Motorcycle Parking a free Council service, as it has always been, and not just a money-spinning exercise for a greedy Council.

Yours sincerely,

Martin Johnson, Westminster Resident and NTBPT Committee

In this email:

• Invitation to resident’ meeting.

Hello to Westminster Residents against the Motorcycle and Scooter Parking Tax.

If you want to help to defeat Westminster’s Motorcycle Parking Tax, then I hope you can spare a moment or two to read through, below.

My name is Martin, and like you, I am a Westminster *Resident* who has been campaigning against Westminster City Council’s Motorcycle Parking Tax (aka "Chalkley’s Tax"). I have recently been invited to join the "No To Bike Parking Tax" Committee, as an additional "Resident" representative, with the aim of trying to galvanise the support from the local Residents (and Retailers) against this Tax, and, from our position as Electors in Westminster, help ramp up pressure on WCC to scrap the Tax.

A quick bit about me, first. I live in the "West End" Ward of Westminster. Along with my wife, we have been active in the NTBPT campaign since the start, beginning with visiting our local Ward Councillors (with little effect) when the Notices first appeared next to M/C bays just 2 weeks before the charging started (in Zone G). We also started up a Petition, calling for "sufficient & secure parking for motorcycles for free", later in 2008, which was formally presented to the Council in January 2009, and was "considered" as part of the Objection process. My wife rides a small scooter, which she uses to get to / from work, and, whilst I am not a motorcycle rider myself, I fervently believe that Chalkley’s Tax needs to be defeated, and have spent many hours flyering bikes, and attending the Demos – mostly on my bicycle – you may have spotted me and my "bike" on the Demos, or had one of my flyers attached to your bike!?

I think it is disgraceful that the Council has tried to disguise a blatant revenue raising scheme with all its spin and misinformation. That they have (so far) taken about £3 Million from the pockets of motorcyclists, for actual parking increases which cost around £23,000 is a scandal, when motorcycles help to reduce congestion & harmful CO2 emissions.

So…

What can YOU do to help? Firstly, attend the Demos against the Tax!

See you on "Loopy Tuesday" – Tuesday 9th June as already advertised!! Go to the campaign website for full details.

However, as Westminster Council seem to think that this is primarily a campaign by commuters from outside of Westminster, hopefully we can also show them that there is strong feeling against the Tax from their own Residents, Residents’ Associations and local Retailers.

The NTBPT Committee and I do not pretend to have all of the ideas to combat this Tax, so although I/we have some thoughts, we would very much like to hear from YOU, with YOUR ideas for the campaign, YOUR suggestions for action (within the law), etc! What are we doing right? What are we doing wrong?

Invitation to residents’ meeting. PLEASE RSVP.

To this end, I would like to invite you to write to me with your thoughts and ideas, and I would also like to arrange some Meetings for us to get together, to get to know each other, to work out ways in which we can help to beat this Tax, and will also be an opportunity for you to find out what else is happening. To get the ball rolling, you are hereby invited to:

Residents’ Meeting : Wednesday 3rd June at 6:30pm at:

One Alfred Place
1 Alfred Place
London WC1E [MAP]

My contact details : martin@notobikeparkingfees.com you can reply direct to this email to contact me.

Given that there were some 150+ official Objections (plus others who signed up to the Petition), there are probably many Residents in each of Westminster’s 20 Wards who are already involved in this campaign. Perhaps we can get like-minded who live near each other, in the same Wards, to spearhead a more local campaign – to generate your own local Petitions, to raise your concerns with you local Ward Councillors, to contact local Residents’ Associations and Retailers. Maybe you see other scooters and motorcycles locally, and have always wondered whether they, too, were active in supporting this campaign? Etc.

So .. please try to make it along to the Residents Meeting (see above), and I would also love to hear from ALL of you – let me know who you are, which WARD (if you’re not sure, then plug your postcode in on the Westminster Council website, to find out), whether you have a Residents’ Parking Permit for your bike(s), whether you’ve been getting PCNs (Parking Tickets), other problems, etc., etc?

Together, we CAN help to defeat Chalkley’s Tax, to once again make Motorcycle Parking a free Council service, as it has always been, and not just a money-spinning exercise for a greedy Council.

Yours sincerely,

Martin Johnson, Westminster Resident and NTBPT Committee

In thi email:

• Invitation to resident’ meeting.

Hello to Westminster Residents against the Motorcycle and Scooter Parking Tax.

If you want to help to defeat Westminster’s Motorcycle Parking Tax, then I hope you can spare a moment or two to read through, below.

My name is Martin, and like you, I am a Westminster *Resident* who has been campaigning against Westminster City Council’s Motorcycle Parking Tax (aka "Chalkley’s Tax"). I have recently been invited to join the "No To Bike Parking Tax" Committee, as an additional "Resident" representative, with the aim of trying to galvanise the support from the local Residents (and Retailers) against this Tax, and, from our position as Electors in Westminster, help ramp up pressure on WCC to scrap the Tax.

A quick bit about me, first. I live in the "West End" Ward of Westminster. Along with my wife, we have been active in the NTBPT campaign since the start, beginning with visiting our local Ward Councillors (with little effect) when the Notices first appeared next to M/C bays just 2 weeks before the charging started (in Zone G). We also started up a Petition, calling for "sufficient & secure parking for motorcycles for free", later in 2008, which was formally presented to the Council in January 2009, and was "considered" as part of the Objection process. My wife rides a small scooter, which she uses to get to / from work, and, whilst I am not a motorcycle rider myself, I fervently believe that Chalkley’s Tax needs to be defeated, and have spent many hours flyering bikes, and attending the Demos – mostly on my bicycle – you may have spotted me and my "bike" on the Demos, or had one of my flyers attached to your bike!?

I think it is disgraceful that the Council has tried to disguise a blatant revenue raising scheme with all its spin and misinformation. That they have (so far) taken about £3 Million from the pockets of motorcyclists, for actual parking increases which cost around £23,000 is a scandal, when motorcycles help to reduce congestion & harmful CO2 emissions.

So…

What can YOU do to help? Firstly, attend the Demos against the Tax!

See you on "Loopy Tuesday" – Tuesday 9th June as already advertised!! Go to the campaign website for full details.

However, as Westminster Council seem to think that this is primarily a campaign by commuters from outside of Westminster, hopefully we can also show them that there is strong feeling against the Tax from their own Residents, Residents’ Associations and local Retailers.

The NTBPT Committee and I do not pretend to have all of the ideas to combat this Tax, so although I/we have some thoughts, we would very much like to hear from YOU, with YOUR ideas for the campaign, YOUR suggestions for action (within the law), etc! What are we doing right? What are we doing wrong?

Invitation to residents’ meeting. PLEASE RSVP.

To this end, I would like to invite you to write to me with your thoughts and ideas, and I would also like to arrange some Meetings for us to get together, to get to know each other, to work out ways in which we can help to beat this Tax, and will also be an opportunity for you to find out what else is happening. To get the ball rolling, you are hereby invited to:

Residents’ Meeting : Wednesday 3rd June at 6:30pm at:

One Alfred Place
1 Alfred Place
London WC1E [MAP]

My contact details : martin@notobikeparkingfees.com you can reply direct to this email to contact me.

Given that there were some 150+ official Objections (plus others who signed up to the Petition), there are probably many Residents in each of Westminster’s 20 Wards who are already involved in this campaign. Perhaps we can get like-minded who live near each other, in the same Wards, to spearhead a more local campaign – to generate your own local Petitions, to raise your concerns with you local Ward Councillors, to contact local Residents’ Associations and Retailers. Maybe you see other scooters and motorcycles locally, and have always wondered whether they, too, were active in supporting this campaign? Etc.

So .. please try to make it along to the Residents Meeting (see above), and I would also love to hear from ALL of you – let me know who you are, which WARD (if you’re not sure, then plug your postcode in on the Westminster Council website, to find out), whether you have a Residents’ Parking Permit for your bike(s), whether you’ve been getting PCNs (Parking Tickets), other problems, etc., etc?

Together, we CAN help to defeat Chalkley’s Tax, to once again make Motorcycle Parking a free Council service, as it has always been, and not just a money-spinning exercise for a greedy Council.

Yours sincerely,

Martin Johnson, Westminster Resident and NTBPT Committee

In this email:

• Video report from the man in the studio! Watch now.
• Reminder: "Meeting" this Sat, 23rd May 09, 9:30am details below.

Video report: 11th May 09 demo. You may be in it! – Watch it.

Hello all, the man in the studio has been extremely busy, however the video report from the 11th May demo is finally out, and it is a great video! Watch it here now, spread the word and share the vid with your contacts. There is a little message in the video for Cllr Susie Burbridge who claims that we are all "male bully boys", obviously not, oh and she also claims that "motorcycles even are more polluting that Hummers"…ok Susie! Watch the video of her stating this at the Westminster Council Policy and Scrutiny Committee meeting, watch that too if you feel up to it!

Reminder of the "meeting" this weekend, Sat, 23rd May, 9:30am.

Come and join us for a "meeting". In line with Westminster City Council’s "Traffic Free Shopping Day" whereby they are opening the car parks for free car parking, the NTBPT is putting its full weight behind supporters’ initiative by inviting you to join us at Cavendish Square (Oxford Street) Car Park [FULL DETAILS & MAP]. Please be parked (one bike per car bay) by 9.30am, obviously the earlier the better! THEY TREAT US LIKE CARS, WE’LL PARK LIKE CARS!!!

All are are encouraged and welcome to come and talk to members of the committee about the upcoming demo the 9th June 09 and to assist in the distribution of publicity material. "Free champagne and smoked salmon bagels, courtesy of Danny Chalkley’s expenses account". yeah right! joking aside, please grab a coffee from the coffee shop, come into the square! See you there <<First Name>> <<Last Name>>! Look out for the "men in blue" vests who will be marshalling, any questions do ask them.

Thanks for the support! The campaign does go on, the fight is for total scrapping of the bike parking tax.

No To the Bike Parking Tax Committee.

In this email:

• Hello to all the new supporters.
• Taxi cab demo tomorrow.
• 23rd May 09 "mini demo" IT’S ON! Details below.
• Hi-viz vest get yours now!
• Details of official demo on 9th June 09, inc map.
• Publicity, downloads & distribution.

We keep on growing!

Hello to all the new supporters of the campaign, since the last demo we have grown again in size massively! We hope to see you all taking action against Westminster City Council, the numbers we have now are a true force, together we can defeat this bike parking tax.

Taxi drivers picket 20th May 09. Show support.

Taxi cab drivers have alerted us that they too have a grievance against WCC parking policies, and will be picketing outside Westminster City Hall, Victoria St from 2:30pm on 20th May 09 (Which should be today to most of you who checked your email!), obviously the more support we give them more support they will give us, if you are around the area stop by and show support.

SAT, 23RD MAY 09 – YES! IT IS ON – They treat us like cars, we’ll park like cars!!!

In line with Westminster City Council’s "Traffic Free Shopping Day" whereby they are opening the car parks for free car parking, the NTBPT is putting its full weight behind supporters’ initiative by inviting you to join us at Cavendish Square (Oxford Street) Car Park [FULL DETAILS & MAP]. Please be parked (one bike per car bay) by 9.30am, obviously the earlier the better! THEY TREAT US LIKE CARS, WE’LL PARK LIKE CARS!!!

All are are encouraged and welcome to come and talk to members of the committee about the upcoming demo the 9th June 09 and to assist in the distribution of publicity material. "Free champagne and smoked salmon bagels, courtesy of Danny Chalkley’s expenses account". yeah right! joking aside, please grab a coffee from the coffee shop, come into the square! See you there <<First Name>> <<Last Name>>! Look out for the "men in blue" vests who will be marshalling, any questions do ask them.

Hi-viz vests, WEAR THEM AT ALL TIMES!

The Hi-viz bibs that we produce are the perfect way to advertise the campaign, please wear it at all times not just demo days. Everyday we pass hundreds of other 2 wheel riders and loads of 4 wheel drivers, spread the word using your hi-viz vest, easy, safe and convenient, they can be ordered by filling in the form here or calling our supplier “1 Stop Instruction” directly on freephone 0800 848 8418 to place your order with them.

• Hi-Viz vests are £7 pre-ordered to collect on demo day, £8 to buy on demo day. You have a choice of either a motorcycle or scooter.
  
• Hi-Viz vests sent via post are £10, they are sent via normal 1st class and are not insured unless paid for.

CALL FREE PHONE NOW 0800 848 8418 TO ORDER YOURS. SCOOTER OR MOTORCYCLE.

The next official demonstration. 9th June 09.

Meet Berkeley Square at 5.45pm on Tuesday 9th June 2009, for a tighter, better regulated, and definitely more congesting demo, which will leave at 6.20pm and head toward Piccadilly Circus, south on Haymarket and round via Pall Mall back to Regent Street. This will keep the group together with the ultimate aim of gridlocking ourselves on this "Piccadilly Circus/Pall Mall" loop. There will be a pre-demo briefing in Berkeley Square by the campaign committee to explain everything, all instructions will be loud and clear. View demo route here (more details soon). There will be more details to follow regarding end points and post-demo refreshments. We will let you know as soon as this is arranged, any questions you can reply to this email or contact us through the campaign website.
Be warned – mayhem and congestion may occur!

Publicity leaflets for download and distribution.

A leaflet has been produced for the next official demo on 9th June 09. There will be various other leaflets coming over the next few days so do check out the downloads page. Including ones for the public, when we are out on our demo rides.

• £1 a day is not "revenue-neutral" [Colour]
• £1 a day is not "revenue-neutral" [B&W]

See you at the next demos. Spread the word.

No To the Bike Parking Tax Committee.

PS. Thanks for all your comments and suggestions, we do get them all.

In this email:

• Sponsorship for the next demo.
• Purpose & results of our demos.
• Cab drivers take a leaf out of our book.
• Publicly issued documents from WCC regarding the tax.

Sponsorship for the next demo.

Reminder that the next demo will be on Tuesday 9th June 09, which we can assure will be far better marshalled, controlled, publicised and far more detailed on our website. With a much shorter route allowing for the group to stay together and, where applicable be able to see each other by passing in opposite directions of the same road. More details as they become available. Also, the start and finish times will be better coordinated for Press coverage.

To give emphasis to the end of the demo, it has been suggested that a basic form of catering be provided, if time allows to co-ordinate the same. Should you company or organisation wish to make a donation to a catering fund to provide water/soft drinks and maybe a few burgers, please let admin@notobikeparkingfees.com know asap.

Purpose & results of our demos.

As mentioned, the fact that we are now getting numbers up in the thousands when we protest, we are getting far more media interest, even if the stories about our campaign are not yet getting lineage in the main papers. Its only a matter of time, and with a couple of journo’s asking for personal interviews, we will soon be getting our message over. In the meantime, the best way of viewing our demos is as major PR exercises.

Cab drivers take a leaf out of our book.

We have been asked to support a picket of Westminster City Hall on Weds, 20th May at 2.30pm by London Cab drivers who are also angry at……Danny Chalkley & Martin Low. As a campaign, it would be useful if as many of us can join them in a show of solidarity, since, the more campaigns against this tyrant, the more the public will be inclined to listen to our arguments. An additional benefit would be thereafter enlisting their support for our demos.

For more details on their picket and to show your support, you can contact Brian Whitehead at b.whitehead@rmt.org.uk the London rep for RMT.

Publicly issued documents from WCC.

You will see from the list of documents recently published on the Westminster City Council website that Danny Chalkley, unsurprisingly is pushing hard to make his tax permanent, and we cannot assure you enough that this changes absolutely nothing as far as we are concerned, since scrapping it then will be no more difficult than now.

• Appendix 2 – Policy & Scrutiny Report 310308 (FINAL).doc (The report following the 31st March P&S meeting. [VIDEO])
• Appendix 3 – MC Report Variance.doc
• Appendix 4 – MC Objections.doc (We warn you this document is HUGE! 354 pages to be exact! As you can see they did receive our objections, did they listen? NO!)
• L-Cover Letter for signing to Cabinet Member – general release.doc
• Motorcycles Cab Report Final.doc (This one is very interesting! Danny Chalkley’s special report!)

The 11th May demo video report & fliers for next demo.

Our man in the studio is busy editing all the footage from the 11th May demo, there is a lot to pack in, he juggles 500 jobs we tell you the video will be on-line soon for all to view, we will let you all know once this is the case. The same goes for our designer, he is busy drafting up the next set of fliers for Tues, 9th June for you to all print off and get distributing, again these will be on-line soon, we will keep you informed! Campaigning is a busy job we tell thee! But without you guys out there we would be no where, so thanks again for your continued support.

Keep on the spreading the word, the message is getting through.

No To the Bike Parking Tax Committee [Who are we?]

In this email:

• Thank you <<First Name>> <<Last Name>>.
• Photos from 11th May Demo.
• Video of LIVE ITV News Coverage, we were on TV!
• Next demonstration Tues, 9th June 09, details.
• Possible "mini demo" Sat 23rd May 09, details.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Thanks to everyone that attended the demo the turn out was amazing, thousands of you out on the streets again! It was chaotic. For those that couldn’t make it thank you too for your support in spreading the word and putting the pressure on Westminster via emails and letters, every little helps.

A great selection of photographs from the 11th May demo.

Also some fantastic photos from the demo are up on-line, go here to view them http://www.flickr.com/photos/notobikeparkingtax/sets/72157618034282160/ Thank you to Simon Leigh for the shots.

LIVE: On ITV 6 O’Clock News. Watch video.

We made it live on ITV evening news you can see the press coverage here, watch this vid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHABoVQIbHg. Chalkley (Spear-head of the parking tax) makes a very brief appearance saying that the tax has been reduced to £1 per day. This is not good enough, plus how does that affect people that have already paid their £150 per year. By doing this he clearly knows that the tax is wrong. We will only stop once the tax is SCRAPPED.

Tues 9th June 09 – Next demonstration.

The next demonstration will be on the Tuesday, 9th June 2009. Clear your diaries, more details on this demo plus fliers, posters and call to arms video coming soon, we need to spread the word now we have 1 month to build up to this demo, plenty of time to make it bigger and better than last night.

Possible "mini-demo" on Sat 23rd May 09.

However if anyone is up for it there will possibly be a "mini-demo" happening on Sat 23rd May 2009 (It will not be a go-slow, it will be "fill a major West End, Westminster Car Park with bikes" demo). more details to follow about that. But it will coincide with an attempt by Danny Chalkley to issue free parking to cars in Westminster run car parks on this day with no option applying to bikes, they still need to pay on that Saturday in bays (hell, we even have to pay in advance!), if that is the case let us fill up 1 or 2 major car parks in the West End, this will obviously be an early demo in time to nab a place! But has purpose and gets Chalkley right in the nuts. Anyone up for that "mini-demo"? Your bike will have less chance of over-heating due to it being legally parked in a car park!

Finally…

So all in all a fantastic demo last night, some things were learnt and the next major one on the 9th June 2009 will be even bigger and better! Thank you for your continued support, we will defeat this parking tax, keep up the pressure and keep spreading the word! You can order hi-viz vests from our suppliers full instructions on how to get hold of a bib are here: http://notobikeparkingfees.com/2008/10/20/t-shirts-hi-viz-bibs-for-the-demo-order-now/

See you at the next demo <<First Name>> <<Last Name>>! And for all those that cannot make it, keep on spreading that word, we are growing. We galvanised a lot more supporters last night. An official video report from our man in the studio will be published soon we will let you know when.

– No To the Bike Parking Tax Committee.