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West End Extra - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published: 22 May 2009

Dialogue welcome on city motorcycling

WESTMINSTER City Council started trialling a £1.50 daily charge for motorcycle parking in August 2008 to fund improvements to motorcycle parking facilities and transport in the city.
From June 1 this charge will be reduced to £1 a day and by then we will also have 900 free motorcycle parking spaces in the council’s undercover car parks.
A small minority of motorcyclists are unwilling to pay a nominal charge to park and last week, as part of a sustained protest campaign, they deliberately disrupted the lives of thousands of Londoners and visitors by bringing “mayhem” and “chaos” to Westminster with a ‘go-slow’ demonstration in the West End.
While we welcome peaceful and legitimate protest in response to our policies, an incident during the protest saw a member of the public physically attacked and then intimidated at a junction in Westminster.
A video of this incident has been posted on YouTube under the title The Fight.
This footage and [accompanying] comments have been forwarded to the police for further investigation.
I have now written to the chairman of the No to Bike Parking Fees group urging
him publicly to condemn such actions.
Despite claims to the contrary, we recognise that motorcyclists are an important part of the transport mix.
Indeed, we were one of the first councils in the country to permit motorcycles to drive in bus lanes and will continue to welcome open and constructive dialogue on the future of motorcycling in the city.
Cllr Danny Chalkley
Cabinet Member for City Management

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.
Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number.
Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

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