13th March 2008
Please could you publish the following response to Cllr Ian Nimmo-Smith’s letter published yesterday.
The Save Independent Punting campaigners are not labouring under any misapprehensions. The sole prosecution under the byelaw was not as a result of any of the complaints about aggressive touting. It was for obstruction, based on the evidence of a single witness, who happened to be a council officer.Not a single aggressive tout has been prosecuted and they continue to operate. The City council are deliberately not presenting all the facts of the matter in an attempt to make independent punt operators the scapegoat for touting problems and make a public show of doing something when in fact all they are doing is removing competition. Under current proposals Scudamores punting company will have no licence restrictions on touts for the next 2 or more years while their only competition in the north of the city are severely limited.
Our website http://18.134.253.21 is presenting the facts of the situation in an attempt to put the process under public scrutiny, something that the council seem uncomfortable with.
Tim Campbell
Leader Save Independent Punting