West End Letters: Fixed price | bike ridewrs | pay more | Bruce DC Argue Baldwin Crescent, SE5

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West End Extra - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published: 23 January 2009

Fixed price now, but bike riders will pay more later

• IT is very easy to understand why Westminster are so keen to introduce fees for motorcycle parking as this quotation from a council report shows:
“The estimated full year revenue benefit of the proposals is £585,000 with a capital investment of £985,000.” In anyone’s book that’s a staggering return on investment and far exceeds anything else that could be obtained by any legal means.
Over 60 per cent of the capital cost is the installation of security devices. However, this is listed as ‘Option F’, so I guess if that gets dropped it will be an even more massive cash cow. No doubt running costs will be peanuts once the signs etcetera are up. I believe we are getting a special introductory offer of fixed prices for three years, after that the sky’s the limit.
Then, of course, I assume the cream on the cake will be the extra revenue from the issue of parking tickets. Based on existing ratios, this should push the figure up to over £1million.
Over the past few years, Westminster’s revenue from parking has risen consistently by around 10 per cent pa to the current £87million, approximately, (£41million fines and £46million parking fees). Not a bad little earner, which an extra million or so pa will enhance nicely. Who cares if it is discouraging the uptake of one of the greenest forms of motorised transport and the one making the biggest contribution to reducing congestion? Large cigars all round and raise your glasses to yet another successful stealth tax!
Bruce DC Argue
Baldwin Crescent, SE5

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, West End Extra, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@westendextra.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Wednesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld.
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Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

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