The councils in the Central London area go some way to provide means for bikers to park without fear of a parking fine, but lately the parking fines should be the last thing to worry about when parking in London. There has been a giant rise in the number of bike thefts in the Central London area over the last few years, with dozens of bikers coming back to the parking bays every day to find their bikes no longer there.
The problem, which many feel is at epedemic proportions is that there are a number of professional bike-thief gangs roaming around in stolen or otherwise procured vans, looking for unsecured bikes to simply lift into the back of the van. Many vans are either plain old transit vans, or those of the refridgerated variety as so to provide sound insulation from any bike alarm. At least two members of the LB staff have been victim to their crimes, having our bikes stolen.
It's become clear that the local councils aren't doing enough to provide secure parking arrangements to visitors of the city. It was proposed to Westminster Council that they install a new variant of the common guard-rail with a built-in lower loop for bikers and scooter riders to chain their vehicles to. The council ignored this suggestion, seemingly only too happy to be overly aggressive in issuing parking fines but not prepared to funnel a tiny amount of that back into providing better parking facilities for the capitals two-wheel community.
If you want to keep your bike, it's clear to us that you shouldn't leave it in public view for the gangs to case and take. If you must use public parking bays, then we strongly recommend at least some of the following methods:
-
Use a very heavy-duty security chain to lock your frame, or rear wheel to a solid object.-
If no solid point is available for a chain, loop your chain through another bikers chain.-
Put a cover over your bike to keep prying eyes away, and to limit scuff-damage.Never assume a disc-lock or an alarm is going to be of any use in protecting your bike, the thieves have no qualms regarding lifting a screaming bike off the road and into their van, the general public will not blink an eye-lid, let alone intervene for you, more's the pity.
Traffic-Wardens are unecessarily aggressive when it comes to issuing parking tickets, and at £100 a ticket, you shouldn't be tempted to try and bend the rules by having just one wheel outside of a parking bay, a wheel on a pavement (for chaining purposes), and always check the area around the bay for any signs that the bay has been suspended, it's all too easy to get fined in London. There are other tricks which bikers try to use to their advantage, such as parking on basement covers (supposidly private property and thus fine-exempt) and covering your numberplate, the idea being that wardens aren't allowed to tamper with your vehicle to get your license details, but this is a hotly contested area and it's not worth taking the risk, as covers have been removed many a time before, and your registration is on your tax-disc as well remember.
Unsecured bike covers also go missing in Londons bike bays (vagrants?), so if you use one, do yourself a favour and secure it to the underside of the bike through one of the eyelets at the bottom of the cover. Last of all, tell other bike bay users about londonbikers.com.
Related Linkslockit2me schemebike parking baysmotorcycleparking.com
