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CAMPAIGN MANAGERS’ ACTIVITIES
If March was as ‘mad as a March Hare, then April was certainly full of fools! Let’s hope May blossoms with good news and a dose of common sense! Ever the optimist!
Membership, membership, membership
My favourite mantra, and in effect, the most important campaign of all. Members mean a stronger voice and greater influence, something that is critical in shaping the opinion of the public and politicians.
Having secured approval from the NC and having outlined the marketing strategy at the AGC in respect of how revitalised the MAG brand will be I am confident that we are on the crest of a wave and about to embark on an exciting and dynamic future for MAG.
Watch this space for details but there is going to be a launch at the Farmyard followed by a high profile advertising and recruiting campaign.
I still maintain that by the time of the AGC in 2008 we should strive to double membership.
This is where every member can play his or her part. Just ensure you renew your membership, recruit just one, (preferably more!), new members and hey presto, job done!
We are aiming for the stars, it is ambitious, but if we land on the moon, metaphorically speaking, we will have moved a long way from where we are now.
Trust me it’s doable!
Off Road Registration Bill
Back to the ‘fool’ theme. There has been frenetic activity to address the mad cap idea of Graham Stringer MP Blackley Manchester which has resulted in the off road vehicles registration bill which is working its way through the parliamentary process.
As a result of a number of meetings with various interest groups ranging from the Farmers Union through to MAG a ‘coalition of opposition’ has been formed, including me representing MAG.
Each member of the coalition has been busy lobbying MP’s, providing briefings and generally trying to bring common sense to the whole issue.
To date I have had meetings with shadow transport secretary Owen Paterson MP, Robert Goodwill MP and conservative party whip, Lembit Opik MP, ( who unfortunately was having a bad hair day trying to bat off the press who had got hold of some private holiday snaps of himself and his new ‘cheeky girl’ friend).
I have also had encouraging correspondence from no less than the Rt Hon Hazel Blears MP, Hon Gwyneth Dunwoody MP, (chair of transport select committee) and others.
Unfortunately, despite writing to Graham Stringer he has declined to respond. How rude!
It would appear I am in good company as he has not bothered to write to anyone else. Perhaps the heat is getting to him. Anyway rest assured that we will do all in our power to head this bill into the bin, where it belongs.
Timing is critical and unless he gets a move on he the bill will run out of parliamentary time.
Fingers crossed!
Companies banning employees from riding bikes in their employment
In this ‘nanny state’ world we live in this does not surprise me. It stems from the Health & Safety at work Act 1974 which has been paid lip service to until the recent explosion of the claims culture.
As a consequence employees now take a much more draconian view of their duty of care to employees. They have to ‘manage’ the risk to their employees. If an employee drives the road becomes a workplace. The reality is that I am not sure we will see much of a difference.
Apart from despatch riders, pizza jockeys, police, paramedics and the likes of Trevor and me as employees there are I suspect few people who use bikes as a means of transport in connection with their work.
Nevertheless something can be done to ensure that this move does not infringe personal choice where it can be exercised.
To this end I will be contacting RoSPA who are heavily involved in work place risk management where the road is the workplace, to ensure that motorcyclist’s needs are properly considered and not just dismissed as seems to be the case at the moment.
Policing of Rideouts, Licensing of events etc
One issue which is coming to light more and more is for police forces to impose charges on the organisers of events such as rideouts.
These arrangements are subject to a national policy on charging for the use of police resources above and beyond those resources normally required for everyday policing. These charging rates are within ‘Special policing services’ policy.
Having said that, there is an increasing trend for police forces to adopt local policies outside this national agreement in an effort to recoup the costs of policing. We need to be careful as there is a tendency for police forces to impose such conditions in the ‘interest of public safety ‘as to make some events almost impossible to arrange.
There are ways round these imposed conditions and please do not hesitate to get in touch with me if you are experiencing ‘local difficulties’. One such ‘local difficulty’ was overcome recently when the licensing officer in Northallerton decided to oppose the licensing application for the Number 1 rally.
A visit to the officer with Paul Roberts and his colleagues soon resolved the issues over a cuppa in Northallerton nick. To be fair to the licensing officer he has only been in post for a fortnight so it was a learning curve for everyone. At the end of the day a good working relationship has been established, faces put to names and everything is hunky-dory.
Again, use the expertise in MAG, Pete Walker, myself and there will be many others well experienced in this tricky area of negotiation.
Chipped number plates? – Not because of flying stones!
MCN this week revealed that the DVLA are looking at a feasibility study into the issue of fitting microprocessors into tamperproof number plates on bikes to tackle, in DVLA’s view, the high rate of motorcycle vehicle excise evasion. I was aware of this issue through my ‘sources’ and have commented on the same in the article in MCN. A number of things spring to mind.
How valid is the research which shows motorcycle tax evasion is so high? Which over the last few years is claimed to have been consistently between 16-23%, compared to car tax evasion of between 1.9 – 2.3% over the same period?
What assurance will there be that chipped information will be limited to VIN numbers which can relay information to hand held devices loaded with a database which would indicate whether or not the bike was taxed?
Above all though, why on earth just bikes? Smacks of prejudice to me.
Such a move would provide the IT platform to upload more information to link in with speed camera technology, GPS, average speed, where we are and how long it took us to get there. It smacks of the creeping paralysis of intrusion into our private lives. Such a move would require primary legislation.
Guess what, they have already introduced it through the Vehicle Crime act of 2001 which allows the secretary of state to include such micro processors in number plates.
I will ensure that MAG is fully engaged in the debate to head this one off.
Transport Forums
On 20th April I went north of the border, a pleasant change from travelling to London to support Steve Wykes, Scottish regional rep at the Scottish executive, motorcycle forum.
Steve has done fantastic work in influencing policy to reflect motorcyclist’s needs in Scotland and if anyone wants to see what a well written response to a consultation paper looks like Steve is your man.
Humber Bridge – waiving of tolls for motorcyclists
After much telephoning and enquiries I have managed to track down the chair of the Humber Bridge Board. I have sent a letter seeking an ‘exploratory’ meeting to look at some options.
All none threatening at this stage so fingers crossed that something comes of it.
The Mad Mullah of the Traffic Taliban
Remember the start of this piece? April fools! Well Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom of the North Wales Police really has earned that title this month.
His crass use of photographs of the mutilated corpse of biker Mark Gibney to somehow showcase his latest road safety crusade without the consent and support of the family beggar’s belief.
His excuse that this was a ‘private’ showing to journalists which had been leaked is in itself beyond belief.
As if this ‘private’ showing in some way legitimates such showing of images. It begs questions of this mans judgement and fitness for the office of Chief Constable.
To add to the beleaguered Chief Constables predicament the radio 2 Jeremy Vine show on Wednesday 2nd May featured the latest gaff in North Wales where two uniformed officers, with back up nearby, issued two 16yr old girls with £80 fixed penalty notices for, wait for it, chalking rainbows and stars on a road surface!!!
It adds weight to the concern that policing priorities and policy is all over the place in North Wales.
It all starts from the top.
The Chief Constable sets the agenda, tone and policing style.
Full information can be found on the campaigns web site. Please add your comments which I can then collate.
I will then be writing formal complaints on behalf of MAG and the wider biking community to the IPCC, HMIC and the North Wales Police Authority. I know for a fact that had a junior officer committed such a gross act of misjudgement they would be subject to serious disciplinary proceedings.
Chief Officers are subject to the same level of scrutiny and sanctions.
I will keep you informed.
Local involvement in transport planning, MPs, MEPs, councillors and media
How are you getting on with this one?
You should not feel inactive if there are no local issues to tackle. It’s a bonus if there isn’t!
However national issues such as the off road registration bill, number plate chips and the like are all influenced by local politicians.
We need to be very proactive in making the contacts, going to MPs surgeries just to say hello.
If people can see us as rational human beings it makes the business of campaigning and lobbying much more personal which in turn makes it more likely to succeed.
If anyone is having problems or needs advice I am only a telephone call away.
In closing, the rally scene is just about to start, let’s hope this fantastic weather holds.
I hope to see as many of you as I can at the rallies and please let me know of any regional meetings you are having so that I can get along and show my face.
Bike Safe Ride Free, David Short
Campaigns Manager
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