Hello <<First Name>> - The Claim is lodged with the High Court!

At last, here it is - the Claim form (PDF), paid for by your donations, lodged at the High Court last Friday.

This not only lets Westminster City Council know, in no uncertain terms, that we mean business, but also answers the - very few - dissenters we have had that sought to pour scorn on our motives for seeking donations.

Click here for a copy - after all, you co-own it (PDF)!

Let battle commence!

Donations

Those of you with experience of such matters will fully appreciate that a document of such quality comes with a high price tag, but if we are to mount a serious challenge of legal merit, cutting corners was never an option, and of the £30k raised to date, we are left with just under £10k. To see the job through, we still need to raise at least another £20k, but I am sure you will agree that the claim form itself should act as a damn fine incentive.

Could I ask you all, even though some of you have already donated substantial sums, to not only once again reach into your pockets for another £10 to the fighting fund, but to make a concerted approach to your local motorcycle clubs, traders, service providers, or lobby groups, and show them what can be achieved when the motorcycle fraternity truly comes together again a common enemy.

Incidentally, last week we received a £100 donation from the Wycombe Branch of MAG. Whilst I know many of you have matched or exceeded that amount, the important thing is that a group of riders came together, and so to all you members of other MAG & BMF Groups, please start getting those whip-rounds going!

The next demo

The location of the next demo.

Tuesday 9th March is when the WCC snouts will be chomping through the ill-gotten gains made at our expense. They also want to flaunt it to the great & good. So if ever there could be a demonstration that we'd imagine you'd want to be at, this is it.

Because WE will be the reception that will ensure that no guest entering that hall is under any illusion as to how much revulsion is felt towards their hosts by so many of the electorate. The demo will be outside 8 Northumberland Avenue, just off Trafalgar Square (Map) starting at 6 pm, and we shall hold our own "Civic Dinner" of baked beans & pancakes (to be made on site!!).

NB - chances are the Police will create a holding area for our bikes somewhere off Northumberland Ave, so the demo will be on the pavement. Whilst it is highly tempting to do a "RATS"-style entrance blockade (Video), please co-operate if you are directed to park by the Police.

As with the last demo, many will be meeting up to ride together to Northumberland Ave. If you want an SMS message as to where various meeting points are, please register for the SMS here.

Going Forward

As I said on the forum, if there is one advantage to filing the Claim, it is that we can finally declare "from now on, no more talking!"

To explain, as a Committee, we have done all the politicking, and polite demonstrating, only for it to fall on deaf ears. Now we can leave it to the lawyers and get back to doing what we do best. As our last pre-demo meet-up showed, within 3 minutes of encircling the roundabout at the sound side of Trafalgar Sq, the whole area came to a standstill, and made our strongest statement of intent to date. You can watch the video 1 here and video 2 here. "Treat us like cars, and we'll congest like cars"

But the truth is - for all the anger it genuinely caused - not one single person was annoyed enough to even contact us, let alone WCC. This has to change, I am afraid to say. We have to now seriously start impinging on the everyday routines of the workers & residents of WCC, and in doing so, be prepared to take the flak until such time as that flak is deflected where it should have been in the first place - at Danny Chalkley and his puppet-master, Alastair Gilchrist.

So, at the demo on March 9th, I will be seeking volunteers for the most concentrated form of demonstrating we have undertaken. Starting the following morning on 10th March 2010, the Wednesday Morning Breakfast Club will meet each week at 8am at a venue made known by SMS at 7am, to then ride to an area where a Trafalgar Square type blockage can be caused, without ever breaking a rule of the road.

Trafalgar Square brought to a standstill.

We are under no illusions that this will really start to irk a lot of people who currently support our campaign - we are also under no illusions that attendances for the first few weeks could be low - but once our fellow riders & the public at large see the effect of these demonstrations, more and more of our guys will attend, and more & more pressure will mount on WCC to do something. And, as we are not breaking any laws, the only way to stop us will be ... to scrap their insidious little tax.

And with dear old Susan Burbridge rightly pointing out, at less than the cost of a coffee at Starbucks, they won't miss it when it IS scrapped.

Scooter or biker, we are all in this together.

And when I say "no more talking", I want that to apply to all those of you who join the WMBC. So that you won't need to explain yourself to the nearest irate motorist who feels brave enough to remonstrate, we will have generic leaflets at the ready for this telling them who at WCC they should contact if they want us to stop. They will be printed for you to hand-out, and enable you to stay schtum! It’s amazing how the site of a video camera in their face seems to make the more irate skulk back to their cars and fume therein.

NO REALLY MEANS NO! - BY CAPTAIN RATHBONE!