Ellee Seymour

This is a first for me. Last July I wrote on my blog about a campaign to give small shareholders a fairer deal and more rights following a demo outside the House of Commons. The campaign  involved persuading government to make an amendment to the Company Law Reform Bill and was led by Lansons PR.

It was successfully carried, and even Baroness Margaret Thatcher turned out to vote in its favour.

When Lansons evaluated its media coverage, just published in PR Week, it mentioned my blog report, as well as that given by The Sunday Times and Sunday Telegraph. I consider this quite an honour:

“Measurement and Evaluation
“On the day of the Report Stage debate in the House of Lords, the issue was covered by Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio Scotland and the BBC’s Working Lunch, as well as the FT and Daily Express.

“The Sunday Times and Sunday Telegraph supported the vote in their editorials, as did political and PR bloggers, such as Ellee Seymour (http://elleeseymour.blogspot.com ).”

From memory, I believe I was approached by The Share Centre to publicise this issue. It clearly demonstrates that blogging is increasingly being taken seriously by leading PR companies and their clients and is being valued for making an important contribution to help get the message across, that the right bloggers can be used successfully for high profile campaigns alongside mainstream media.

Protesters have until 20 February to add their name to the government’s online petition objecting to ill conceived plans to introduce road charges.

There are more than 626,000 signatures to date, it is the biggest online poll set up by Shropshire man Peter Roberts. 

However, I’m not entirely confident of it receiving the time of day from Transport Secretary Stephen Ladyman, having heard him say on the radio this morning that protesters have got their facts wrong.

He denied that drivers could be charged up to £1.34 a mile, that no amount had been decided, and said their whereabouts would not be tracked by the government. He insisted the plan was to get commuters off the road at peak times, that research had shown that 25% of motorists stuck in traffic jams had other choices.

He kept using the word “incentive” to describe his alternative road charging scheme as an attractive option, that commuters could adjust their working life and travel during less busy times.

This is a totally unrealistic theory, people have to arrive at work when their bosses tell them, and the British working day tends to be fixed around a 9am start. There is very little flexibility, surely this is where government should be focusing its attention if they want to reduce peak hour commuters. Could they enforce this kind of regulation on businesses? Of course not, so how can peak hour travellers be expected to go along with it, it is unworkable and unfair for those who have no choice.

In reality, there are no real alternatives, we certainly all pity the rail commuters who pay thousands of pounds for a season ticket and have to stand during peak times.

At the end of the day, our jobs are important, and with record numbers of homes being repossessed, people will work the hours they are told to keep their head above water - not when it best suits Stephen Ladyman.