GATWICK AIRPORT NO BIKE ZONE?
17 August 2007 - BMF

No Way say BMF

Thanks to a combined effort between the British Motorcyclists Federation and Motorcycleparking.com, the introduction of charging for motorcycle parking has been dropped, at least for the ‘summer period’.

Gatwick has had free motorcycle parking at its short stay car parks for many years, but because some bikes had been parking in car bays, Gatwick took the decision that as from 1st of August, all bikes would be charged the same as cars for parking in the NCP-controlled Short Stay car parks. However NCP say motorcycle parking has never been a problem and have had nothing to do with the charging decision.

The introduction of the charge was first brought to the attention of Will Beeley of Motorcycleparking.com who then contacted the BMF. Joint investigations showed that although the parking manager has said that Gatwick was bringing the parking charges in line with the other airports*, this proved untrue and was simp ly a unilateral decision by the Gatwick parking manager. In fact as each airport is a separate business, BAA do not have a national parking policy.

In a joint statement, the BMF and Motorcycleparking.com said: ‘Given the current environmental concerns, we had hoped that BAA would continue to offer an incentive for people to travel by the more environmentally friendly mode of a motorcycle, and secondly, we are very disappointed that the first anyone new of the charge was when motorcyclists were asked to pay on exit!’

Gatwick airport have now informed the BMF and Motorcycleparking.com that they will now stop charging for motorcycle parking, rethink the policy and include a consultation process after the “busy summer period.”

According to Motorcycleparking.com only 3 out of the 14 UK airports charge motorcycles to park, and those that do, charge only a fraction of the car price.

www.betterbiking.co.uk

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