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!

RATS bikers protest group blockade Westminster City Hall with motorbikes ... while the EU Commission opens an investigation into pay-by-mobile phone M/C parking fees & fines scheme.

Earlier this morning a riders group who are new to me made something of an impact in downtown Victoria in the heart of the Westminster area of central London. The RATS (Riders Against Tory Stealth-taxes) managed to delay a meeting of the Partnership in Parking PIP consortium at Westminster City Hall by chaining a number of bikes together in protest. This lot are, incidentally, an entirely separate bunch from the No to Bike Parking Tax NTBPT group.

Anyway, I gather that these rascals are a splinter group of activist opponents to the controversial attempt by Westminster City Council to pioneer a new pay-by-mobile-phone parking fees and fines scheme – and to sell the system to any other local authority who wants to extract a few more quid from bikers if they can. And this may be a tempting prospect when you notice that the Westminster trial scheme has already extracted more than £2m from riders pockets More pics here

Later today, another demonstration is scheduled to take place but this one is organised by the official NTBPT group so it will be interesting to see what happens then. It will also be interesting to see whether the mainstream news media take the opportunity to report what is really happening these days on the streets of London or stick to their more conventionally oriented coverage of output from never ending streams of PR and well spun versions of what our governers would like us to get as 'news'.

But back to this morning's events, an eyewitness tells me that the police arrived on the scene and engaged in a highly professional investigation and amicable spot of negotiations. All of which resulted in a conclusion that no criminal activity or damage had occurred, a bunch of disaffected bikers had exercised their rights to take to the streets in protest, and the meeting then went ahead albeit two hours later than planned.

I also gather that meeting was rather uneventful, or as one member of the public gallery put it boring as f**k – until the end. Some council members of the London-wide consortium had no idea that opposition to bike parking charges was so vigorous and voiced major concerns about the very idea of charging riders of congestion busting motorcycles to park – let alone having their consortium take the lead on spreading it nationwide.

...Meanwhile, I learned late on Friday that the EU Commission will investigate whether regulations have been flouted or laws broken during the set-up phase of the bike parking tax scheme being pioneered in Westminster...

EU Commissioners have served notice on the UK government's representative in Brussels that they are opening a formal investigation into an official complaint that EU regulations were flouted in setting up the controversial bike parking fees scheme being trailed in Westminster. The complaints were lodged in 2008, and made regarding some of the behind-the-scene activities by the Partnership in Parking (PIP) consortium that was originally set up with tax payers money. It is alleged, by the complainant and opponents of the scheme, that the way that PIP went about setting up the pay-by-mobile-phone scheme involved several violations of EU law on procurement.

The case for investigation, No.SG-CDC-2008A-7695, was formally opened on 20th November and the UK government has eight weeks to reply to notification of the investigation.

The key allegations are that PIP coordinators set up the scheme in a way that could not only be rolled out throughout the UK by any authorities who wanted to introduce a new pay-by-mobile-phone bike parking charging and enforcement regime – but that PIP encouraged councils to deploy the new fees and fines system without a tender process by merely joining the PIP consortium.

The complainant cannot be named because it has asked the EU Commission to protect their identity during the course of the investigation. However, I have now seen a copy of the submission of complaints and can say that in my view it is very understandable why the Commission are taking the complaints sufficiently seriously to open a formal investigation...