• So I started commuting into work this spring having moved to South London, making the ride into the City more viable. Around the time I was going to start riding I asked my employer (medium sized financial institution) about getting access to our cycle parking but was told that all of the bike parking spots we hold in the building are currently allocated and that they will actually need to decrease the number allocated at some point as we are looking to sublet some of our existing floor space.

    At the time I accepted this and have just been locking my bike at street level and right next to a busy tube station. Curently ride in nearly every day, lock it up, wander into the bike parking/showers and then on my way back up I put on an extra, heavier lock that I bought.

    I have since enquired again as the crappier months of weather approach (hoping to keep my bike out of the elements) and was again told that we have no available spots. I have argued with our facilities people that the bike parking is never even close to being full and that there are also dozens of spaces allocated to motorcycle parking when there are never more than 2-4 motorcycles. I think our building allocated spots based on the number of stands available (this type) which they could reasonably park two bikes on. The facilities people claim that they have asked the building about providing more spots but that the building management say our company doesn't even use all of the spots allocated so they won't add any which is true because many people don't ride in regularly if at all.

    I am going to raies it again and push the angle of being a good employer but my question is if my employer has some legal obligation to provide these facilities or to make them available to me since they are avalable to others?

    TLDR; Employer has no more bike parking slots to allocate and claim building management wont give them more despite bike parking never being close to full and easy changes to add more. Looking for advice.

    Any advice appreciated.

  • I am going to raies it again and push the angle of being a good employer but my question is if my employer has some legal obligation to provide these facilities or to make them available to me since they are avalable to others?

    No, there is no legal obligation. You need to find out more--i.e., who are these people who allegedly have spaces allocated to them who don't seem to ride a bike in? Are they bigwigs who think it's OK to occupy a space while only commuting by bike occasionally? Etc. It might be employees who left a long time ago and never bothered to notify the building management.

    It's usually a good idea to go through the most senior people first if you can.

    Other than that, all the usual applies--people who commute by bike are fitter and work better, the company should actively promote cycling more, they could get a consultant in to advise them about installing better bike parking (shameless plug, a friend of mine does that sort of thing), e.g. more space-efficient, managed better (to avoid the problem of vacant stands) etc.

    Importantly, try not to come across as a complainer but be positive in your interactions. Bike parking often appears to people as an annoying chore that they'd rather not have to deal with.

  • No, no bigwigs. Just people who are never willing to give up their spots when asked claiming that they need them even though they are not using them at that time and facilities people who arent willing to enforce the use until they need to because we are losing access to some. The allocations are controlled by our own facilities people so they are aware when people leave.

    I will bring up these points though when I go to raise it. Thanks.

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