Labour Party News

Westminster Labour angered by Conservative failure to help shopkeepers blighted by CCTV camera

Labour Councillors have reacted angrily to Westminster City Council’s refusal to remove the Moscow Road CCTV camera which has caused economic havoc to shopkeepers’ business in the area.

In October, Moscow Road shopkeepers wrote to Council Chief Executive Mike More to express their concern at the impact of the CCTV cameras on trade, caused by the regular £60 fines that customers are getting from simply stopping outside their shops for more than a couple of minutes.

Dinos Theocharis, manager of Athenia Grocers said:

“Our customers come from all over the place. They’re prepared to pay the congestion charge but the fine is too much - they’ve stopping coming.”

Michael Audisho, owner of Archie Food Store, said:

“Business has been halved. All my customers are getting tickets and not coming back - some of them are even demanding money from me.”

But now, Kevin Goad, the Council’s Assistant Director of Parking has dismissed traders’ concerns in a standard letter dated 11th November which does not even discuss the impact of parking fines on the Moscow Road shops. The standard letter concludes with the words “Thankyou for bringing this matter to my attention and affording me the opportunity to address your concerns personally. I trust the matter has now been resolved to your satisfaction.”

Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, Leader of the Labour Group said:

“The Council say that they want to help small businesses at this time of economic difficulty but the reality is that Westminster Conservatives are making things worse by their insensitive parking policies which ignore the legitimate concerns of Moscow Road shopkeepers. To add insult to injury they send out standard ‘fob-off’ letters which purport to have dealt with the matter on an individual basis but do nothing of the sort.”

“There is absolutely no evidence that the Conservatives have given a moments’ consideration to the damaging impact on small businesses of their draconian parking policies which, at the same time, treat motorists like ever-open cash machines”.

“The Conservatives say they have an ‘economic recovery programme’ - tell that to the Moscow Road shopkeepers! It’s more like an ‘economic destruction programme’”

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