Westminster has listened, why can't Barnet? Updated

Boris listens to Barnet residents deride Brian Colemans parking 

scheme

The news on BBC London this morning is that Westmintser Council has "listened to the views of residents and business" and scrapped its outrageous plans for punitive parking charges at Evenings and Weekends, designed solely to fleece people and fill the councils coffers. The local businesses of Westminster knew this would be bell of doom for them. Local Churches also complained, asking why parishioners should be penalised. Residents were livid. Crafty old Boris, the Mayor of London, spotted the opportunity to garner a few votes and brush up his image and pressurised the  Council to listen. Not only did they listen, they crumbled.

In Barnet we have a slightly different situation. The man who introduced the charges is Boris's trusted wing man, Brian Coleman. Whilst the Westminster Tories who snuck in the charges were at arms length, Coleman is a key member of the Boris Team. Sadly for Boris, everyone in Barnet knows that Brian isn't a team player. At Tuesdays BorisBash, Brian Coleman did everything in his power to prevent local residents raising the issue of parking. It appears from conversations that this policy came unstuck. At the end of the meeting, Boris had a chat with the "Save Barnets High Streets" protestors.They gave him a t-shirt. Boris isn't stupid, so he will have realised that the protestors were largely core Conservatives. These are the people who fill the party coffers, do the donkey work campaigning and turn up without fail to vote. If there is anyone Boris should represent it is them.

Now he has a dilemma. Does he turn his ire on Barnet and risk undermining Brian Colemans GLA campaign, or does he back his wingman and say "Barnet is a special case, they need the cash, Westminster doesn't". I suspect that Boris is shrewd enough to know that whatever he does, he haas to do it now. If the parking mess can be sorted out now, then Coleman has three months to rebuild his reputation and re-engage with local business.

What Boris (and Brian) must realise is that however much the local business owners may be natural Conservatives, if local business decide that local Conservatives don't support them, they will vote with their feet. Westminster Conservatives have woken up to this fact, the only question in Barnet is whether the local Conservatives will wake up now, or will it be when Brian Coleman loses in the GLA elections in May? One way or another, they will.

Update : 15/11/2012 -
It seems that the W. anchor effect of Brian Coleman is starting to weigh down on the Boris Campaign. Time to dump him - http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-mayor/article-24029304-ken-takes-lead-over-boris-in-race-for-mayor.do - Ken Livingstone has unexpectedly overtaken Boris in the polls

Barnet Parking Wardens - The shape of things to come

Barnet is outsourcing Parking to a company called NSL.What sort of company are they? I've no idea, I'm not an expert eye on parking enforcement companies. What I do know is that one of their former employees in Westminster described them as "Ali Baba And The 40 Thieves". I am endebted to todays Daily Express - http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/293808/Warden-sacked-for-being-fair - for exposing exactly what we can expect.  Here is another quote from the article:-

Mr Berkani, who worked in west London for Kensington and Chelsea Council’s parking firm NSL, says bosses cited one colleague as an “excellent example” for issuing 35 tickets, known as Penalty Charge Notices, in a single shift, and a manager said it was “good revenue for the council and that everyone should generate the same revenue as him”.

At a recent council meeting, Barnet Traffic supremo and Tory GLA candidate hailed this outsourcing as a core Conservative policy. Here is a video clip of Coleman explaining how marvellous such enforcement will be for Barnet motorists and taxpayers.



In the next clip, you have the head of parking, John McArdle describing how the contract will work.



Now you may agree with Councillor Coleman that having a company such as NSL issuing parking tickets in such a manner is a great idea. When I read the following quote from Mr Berkani in the Daily Express, I took a rather different view.

Mr Berkani, 45, told a London Employment Tribunal: “It soon became clear that it was commonly accepted amongst my work colleagues that the whole operation of civil parking enforcement was dishonest and mainly designed to extract as much cash as possible, via both fair means or foul, from the motoring public.

“I have seen during the course of my employment… things which I would never imagined could exist in a country like England, which I have always understood and believed upheld and applied the law in a fair, open and even-handed manner.”

Targets for the number of tickets to issue per shift were “impossible to achieve in an entirely legal and ­honest manner,” he said.

I trust that when it comes to May and you get the chance to pass your verdict on Brian Coleman's bid for re-election to his £50,000 a year part time job at the GLA, you remember what you are voting for and what Mr Coleman considers core Conservative policies to be.

Other raddenfisk Borough special : The robber barons of Westminster Council

I just heard that Westminster Council have decided to impose car parking charges on a Sunday. The official reason? Because more people want to park than on other days of the week. The real reason? Because they will raise £4 million.

This is absolute daylight robbery. Brian Coleman, the Stealth tax king of Barnet, who "never knowingly undercharges" would be proud of them. So why do more people park on a Sunday? Because public transport ceases to function properly in London. For many, a car is the only practical way to get around. Take Thameslink, my route of choice for journeys to London. There has been no through service in London for a couple of years, the Northern line is often also disrupted as are the Met line, Jubilee line, District Line & Circle line. My season ticket has gone up every year above inflation & the service has just got worse and worse.

What about the businesses, struggling to survive? What about the low paid workers struggling to survive? The Federation of Small business identified parking charges as one of the biggest threats to small traders. Do Tory Councils or Tory Councillors care? No chance.

Guest video - Westminster Traffic Fine CCTV fine scam in Action

Many thanks to ShibariScamster  for this video. It shows how Westminster Council are making a fortune from a confusing road junction with dodgy road signs


Send your videos of Dodgy Council scams to us