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West End Extra - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published: 27 March 2009

Motorcycle protest will hit thousands of Londoners

• I’m writing to urge motorcycle protesters to act responsibly and reconsider their plans to take part in a large-scale motorcycle protest next week which will inevitably inconvenience thousands of Londoners.
Up to 1,000 motorcycle protesters are expected to descend on the capital during rush hour on Tuesday evening with the intention of bringing parts of Westminster to a standstill and causing major disruption to commuters and local businesses.
The demonstration follows the introduction of motorcycle parking charges by Westminster council last year.
Under the scheme motorcyclists pay a maximum charge of just £1.50 a day to park in any dedicated parking bay across central London.
During their last protest motorcyclists blocked Victoria Street and brought traffic to a standstill.
This action affected 23 bus routes and resulted in police being called to City Hall.
While we accept peaceful and lawful protest or opposition to council policy, we do not believe it is reasonable for a small minority of London’s motorcycle community to deliberately cause massive disruption and inconvenience to London’s retailers, shoppers and commuters.
We have offered the motorcycle campaign group the opportunity to speak at our meeting at Westminster City Hall on March 31 and provided up to 70 spaces in the public gallery, as well as webcasting the event.
Protesters have also been given an opportunity to send any objections to the council, all of which are currently being considered before any decision is made on the future of the scheme.
I would urge the chair of the “No to Bike Parking Fees”’ campaign group to condemn any action that will inevitably disrupt law-abiding Londoners who have no part to play in this upcoming protest.
Cllr Danny Chalkley
Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport

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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