Why I'm proud of Barnet in pictures - Part 1 - Parking petiton

Yesterday Helen Michael, leader of the North Finchley traders campaign agaimnst Barnet Councils parking stealth tax, handed a petitition in to Councillor Richard Cornelius. There were 13,500 signatures on the petition. Have you ever wondered what 13,500 signatures look like? I took some pictures at the screening of A Tale of Two Barnets at Cafe Buzz on Wednesday night. I am proud of the traders and the people of Barnet for their efforts in collecting so many signatures.

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.

BarnetEye TV - Barnet Council Parking Fiasco - Brian Coleman wins cabinet approval

Tonight at Barnet Council Cabinet Resources committee, half the cabinet turned up and spent less than three minutes discussing changes to the way Barnet manages parking services. Councillor Coleman described it as "a good, old fashioned Conservative Privatisation". One cabinet member (Councillor Andrew Harper) asked a half hearted question and the committee chairman (Councillor Dan John Thomas) displayed a complete lack of knowledge on how parking appeals are managed (which earned a scornful rebuke from Coleman).

So next time you get a ticket from an over zealous employee of "Parking Fines-R-US", just remember "it's a "good old fashioned Conservative Policy" to screw as much out of you as possible. Enjoy