With a ruling in the High Court today that Westminster City Council’s controversial scheme for motorcycle parking charges is legal, the 80,000 strong British Motorcyclists Federation warns that this could signal the end of the customary free parking enjoyed by motorcyclists across the UK

The judgment in effect said that Westminster Council did not need to make any special justification for bringing in charges for motorcycle parking as motorcycles  could be treated in the same way as cars. 

In his judgement, Lord Justice Pitchfordsaid charges had been justified and that “The Council has been assiduous in the performance of its responsibility to consult specifically upon the motorcycle parking and charging scheme. Far from ignoring the responses received, appropriate concessions have been made and the scheme amended.” He then went on to say, “The judgment which objections have failed to undermine, is that the volume of traffic using the roads in the City of Westminster requires management by the selective introduction of charging for on-street parking contemporaneously with the provision of free off-street parking.”

A strong supporter of the ‘No To Bike Parking Tax’ (NTBPT) campaign from its inception, the bmf’s Government Relations Executive Chris Hodder, said: “Obviously we are disappointed but while this ruling means that Westminster have the technical authority to charge motorcyclists, they could find that this is a pyrrhic victory as protesters have vowed to fight on until Westminster are forced to back down by public demand. It should also be borne in mind that it’s actually costing Westminster Council £430,000 a year all-in to run the scheme, so other local authorities thinking this is a green light for similar schemes should be extremely cautious.”

Figures released by Duke Marketing, which operates iomtt.com on behalf of the Isle of Man Government, show visits to the site and its TT Live! service increased to 939,381, up 42% compared with the 2009 TT.

TT Live!, which offered fans the chance to listen to live commentary on the internet while watching sector times and speeds as they happened, attracted 115,739 visits between May 29th and June 13th, an increase of 272% on the 2009 figures. The service, which was free during the 2010 TT, had an average of more than 30,000 users during the races, peaking at 32,399 during the PokerStars Superbike TT.

While the number of visits makes positive reading, it is the numbers of unique users – or different people - which truly shows the rapidly growing popularity of the TT website. The figures for ‘unique users’ show how many individuals came to iomtt.com during the TT, and, in 2010, the number of unique users was 342,944 people, up by 34%.

During the two weeks of the TT, the site had more than 5 million page impressions and data also shows that people were visiting more pages and spending longer compared with previous years on the site. During the festival, TT Live! was used by a total of 69,677 different people.

The UK and Isle of Man accounted for the highest number of the visits, but the top 10 also included the US, Australia and Spain and more than half the visits from America were new visitors to the site.

Duke Managing Director Peter Duke, whose company signed a new multi-year contract to continue running iomtt.com in 2010, said:

“The figures for iomtt.com and TT Live! in 2010 are further evidence of the growing popularity of the Isle of Man TT. To attract almost 1 million visits to the site from nearly 350,000 different people exceeded our highest expectations, and we are very pleased that the website, and especially TT Live!, is contributing so much to the global awareness and popularity of the TT.”

“We redesigned the website ahead of the 2010 TT to incorporate a new look, video content and other improved features. We also provided online commentary and live timings free of charge, and expanded our social networking presence with a dedicated Facebook page and Twitter account, both of which were regularly updated with news from the course and photos through each race day.”

“This commitment from the team at Duke has brought extremely positive feedback from site visitors from all over the world. In just a handful of weeks, our Facebook group has built up more than 16,000 fans and the 34% increase in people using iomtt.com speaks for itself.”

Mr Duke added:

“The Isle of Man TT is a truly international event, and the use of iomtt.com and TT Live! clearly shows that. During the 2010 TT we had visitors from 179 countries and territories – including the Arctic!”
“This is only the first year of our new contract, and the improvements made so far have brought excellent results. We will be building on the 2010 TT to deliver even more for the hundreds of thousands of TT fans, new and old, all over the world through iomtt.com.”

Isle of Man Tourism Political Member Geoff Corkish said:

“These figures are very encouraging and show that the programmes that we have put in place are increasing the global audience and commercial value of the TT. This will provide tangible benefits not only to the event itself but also the Isle of Man as a whole.”

The number of women taking to two wheels has increased significantly during the last eighteen months and this now represents a large proportion of moped, scooter and bike sales for the motorcycle industry.

As a result of this trend, road safety officers in West Mercia and Warwickshire are actively promoting a series of free and subsidised “Take Control” rider assessment courses to women, in the hope that they will want to develop their riding skills.

Director of Safety at the Coventry-based Motorcycle Industry Association (MCIA) Karen Cooke, has recently tried a Take Control course for herself and commented; “I have been riding motorcycles for 28 years and I am always nervous when anyone else analyses my riding technique, but my instructor was great and really put me at ease. Even though I have completed refresher training in the past, he still came up with some helpful suggestions and I was able to iron out one or two bad habits that naturally develop over time. I would encourage all moped and motorcycle riders to learn the Take Control techniques and particularly hope the increasing number of female riders will make a commitment to this sort of self improvement. There is no bravado, no test and no pressure and it helps you to become a safer rider“.                                                                                             

Motorcycle dealerships are finding that women are buying a wider variety of machines from mopeds and scooters as a main mode of transport for commuting, to larger custom bikes and sports bikes, just for fun. Motorcycling now has a much wider appeal for both sexes, all ages and people from many different backgrounds.

Communications Manager for the Safer Roads Partnership in West Mercia, Katy Jenkins explains; "Just ten years ago, most women wearing leathers and a crash helmet were presumed to be pillion passengers, but that is simply not the case now. We even know of a few ‘women-only bike clubs. They are often more receptive to advice and more willing to learn and we have a variety of half-day and full day courses that can be tailored to the needs and level of experience of every lady“.

Take Control rider training costs either £30 or nothing at all, depending on the course you select. It is available to anyone who lives in or travels through the counties of Shropshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Warwickshire. Instructors will usually travel to where clients live or work and ride on their local roads or regular routes.

More information can be found at www.takecontroltraining.co.uk

Chris Walker, Luke Mossey and Tristan Palmer managed to bring home some results at a weather stricken round six of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Knockhill in Scotland this weekend.

Walker had an eventful race one which saw three re-starts. The first red flag was produced due to torrential rain. Red flag number two unfortunately involved Walker who was forced off track to avoid a crashing Dan Linfoot. Walker landed in the middle of the tarmac and was lucky not to be hit by the chasing pack. The debris from the crash needed to be cleared so the third red flag appeared.

When the race finally got underway it was reduced to 15 laps and Walker had to start from the back row of the grid due to the crash as the grid was based on the rider’s position at the time of the final red flag. Walker, aboard his GSX-R 1000 Suzuki, was fast off the line and got up to 17th on the first lap, he made steady progress on the first six laps working his way forward to 10th position which he held to the chequered flag.

With the disjointed race out of the way Walker was due to start race two from 12th place based on his fastest lap in race one. However the race lasted all of one lap due to a crash involving a number of riders. The race was red flagged immediately and didn’t re-start as the weather had deteriorated.

Walker said: “What can I say other than it was one of those days. I didn’t make any mistakes but ended up in the middle of two pile ups. My bike is pretty beaten up and I’ve got a dead leg, but we can pick up the pieces and get it turned around in time for Snetterton. I managed to salvage a top-ten from a back row start so I can’t be too disappointed.”

Mossey and his Triumph 675 had a superb race day once again picking up the Fuchs-Silkolene Supersport Cup win and 11th overall, finishing ahead of Championship front runner Billy McConnell. He qualified in a solid tenth place which he maintained for the bulk of the race.

Mossey said: “It’s been a tough weekend as we had a breakdown on Friday and then spent Saturday chasing setup. I was pleased to qualify in tenth place, I thought we would get a dry race but it poured down just before we went out. I got a good start and running in the top-ten trying to stay with the leaders when the pace car came out. That upset my rhythm a little and then I got beaten up in the last turn and lost a few places. I made them back up, passed Billy and tried to catch the next group but they were too far ahead. I’m happy with the outcome so now I can’t wait to get to Snetterton as it is my local round and I want a good result.”

Palmer had a baptism of fire at Knockhill as he didn’t make it to Scotland until Saturday due to unforeseen circumstances. That meant he missed out on valuable track time during Friday’s free practice and first qualifying on Saturday for the Metzeler National Superstock 1000 Championship. He still managed to qualify in fifth place and finished the race in a healthy fourth aboard his BMW S1000RR.

Palmer said: “Considering how the weather has been we actually had a good dry line and everyone was on dry tyres. It went pretty well for me. I got an ok start and slotted straight into fifth place. I couldn’t keep with the front runners as I’d only had one session on track ahead of the race so I didn’t quite have my settings right. I decided to settle for points instead and make sure I stay in the Championship chase, I’m still fourth overall so that is great.”

The seventh round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship will take place on the 16th–18th July at Snetterton in Norfolk.