Westminster Council is to start charging for motorcycle parking in central London. The new parking scheme will cost between £1 and £1.50 a day and is being brought in to tackle the dire shortage of parking available. Around 16,000 bikers head into central London everyday - this is up almost 40% in 10 years.
This year’s KillSpills protest rally on Saturday September 9th, a ride to Westminster to raise the profile of the menace that spilt diesel presents to the UK’s 1.2 million motorcycle and scooter riders, is expected to be the biggest so far.
At present, the City Corporation have no plans to allow bikes into their bus lanes, and are awaiting the results of the Transport for London trial. The City only has seven bus lanes in the Square Mile, four of which are 'by-pass' lanes for security checkpoints which would not be open to motorcycles under any circumstances. More news to follow once their draft LIP is published.
Two car parking companies were today investigating claims that some parking attendants have resorted to bribes to cancel tickets as well as indulging in theft and illegal ticketing. The allegations were made in a BBC1 Whistleblower programme being screened tonight.