Bristol City Council Think That The PoliticalCripples Are Revolting.
Subject To Licence - Petition To Be Signed Publicly
We Apologise over any confusion concerning the Petition Signing in Bristol, Monday 28 September 2009.
It has not been cancelled – but we can only state that it is going ahead “Subject To Licence” from Bristol City Council.
We Apologise over any confusion concerning the Petition Signing in Bristol, Monday 28 September 2009.
It has not been cancelled – but we can only state that it is going ahead “Subject To Licence” from Bristol City Council.
You do not need a licence to have a petition signed in public, you only need the permission of the landowner.
College Green, Bristol is owned by Bristol Cathedral and they gave us permission on 19 August. We even have the communications from Bristol City Council of the the same day saying “No Licence Required”.
Bristol City Council have decided that our petition is not a petition. It seems they believe we are Demonstrating and Protesting – and common sense seems to not apply once the have made their mind up! Is it that Bristol City Council think that Disabled People Are Revolting?
Since Thursday 17 Sept we have been dealing with this problem caused by Bristol City Council and we have to report that have been less than helpful – and even like to make reports to the Press about us and what Council staff have and have not done that are far less than accurate.
It has been very odd being called by Journalists to be told what The Press Office have been saying. We have had a most interesting time and the Truth has been conspicuous by it's absence.
Press releases have even stated we would have the licence by Thursday 24 Sept – but we are still waiting!
We have even been told by Council Employees that if we don't have a licence for Monday “YOU WILL BE STOPPED!”. So helpful and so nice to be threatened whilst working to sort out their errors and cock-ups.
There is much public comment about Bristol City Council from the people of Bristol and much of it is not complimentary. Frankly we can understand why!
PoliticalCripple.com have had to liaise with Police and other emergency services who have been most helpful and wondered why out time and theirs was being wasted. We have also dealt with some most helpful people from Bristol University and Cabot Circus Shopping Centre - but unfortunately we were not able to find an alternate place to do the Petition Signing.
We have had to take out a £5,000,000 Public liability Insurance as demanded by the Council and have been waiting since Wednesday to be given the licence. We Are still waiting!
We hope to have the licence On Monday 28 at approximately 11.00 am – and this will be collected form the Council House College Green Bristol. Until then everything is “Subject To Licence” and we can't say we are going ahead.
If you should be in the area of College Green Bristol on Monday 28th, you will be able to tell who we are as we will be branded with our PoliticalCripple T-shirts.
We have a special presentation for Jan Ormondroyd, Chief Executive of Bristol City Council – a “Suck It And See” Lollipop. Believe us, Bristol City Council have earned it and they deserve it!
Jan Ormondroyd is on the record as saying “The city council takes all concerns and complaints extremely seriously.” and we will be testing that fully as soon as the necessary paper work is dumped on her desk.
We wonder if Ms Ormondroyd will be big enough to come and collect her lollipop in person on Monday? We doubt it, as evidently what we are doing is not serious and the way we have been treated is reported by the Council Press Office as Exemplary!
Jan also says publicly via her press office;
“What is important is that we learn lessons from the limited number of cases where we fell short of our own high standards and take steps to minimise the chance of such errors happening again in future.”
Lessons better be learned for the sake of Disabled People In Bristol, and we hope that the up an coming event for November being Organised by Bristol City Council to promote Disability Equality addresses a great many of the rude, unprofessional, dismissive, discriminatory and unacceptable attitudes that we have been subjected to.
We know that Bristol City Council is aware of the problem cos their Equalities Unit told us so. We can't repeat what was said to us and even by who – but believe me it was a damning indictment of Bristol City Council and showed that how we have been treated is a common problem that Ms Ormondroyd had better get to grips with and get sorted out!
So we hope to see many of you on Monday 28 September 12.00 noon College Green, Bristol - "Subject To Licence" of course. Here is where we will be "Subject To Licence" from 12.00 noon. If there is no licence we may just be found strolling about the green ..
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