Forum Topic

Should Ealing council charge personal trainers

I Just read in the evening standard about a personal trainer being fined and given a criminal record from the royal parks for carrying on his personal business.I'm in favour of this.I see far too many personal trainers in Lammas park carrying out a business free of charge ( no rent or overheads) and taking money from their clients. They should face the same penalty.http://www.standard.co.uk/news/i-wont-stop-says-personal-trainer-alexi-ajavon-fined-for-using-royal-park-9192018.html

Rhys Smith ● 4426d9 Comments

'They take cash in hand and no way of tracking how much they are taking per week.'Evidence? When I've been to fitness sessions in parks, I have always paid by cheque.

Susan Kelly ● 4424d

We should let them do what they want for free, it is sport and fitness which is very important to our health.

Christine Daniels ● 4424d

I saw a sign in Richmond park which said that all personal trainers or anyone who wants to run a fitness club needs to contact the following number.Makes sense. Hope Ealing Council follows soon.If you are running a business, then you should be paying your dues but these personal trainers are getting away scot free and not even declaring their income to inland revenue. They take cash in hand and no way of tracking how much they are taking per week.

Rhys Smith ● 4424d

I'm not sure what equipment you're talking about. I have done bootcamps in local parks in the past and we used nothing except the ground beneath our feet and some mats which the trainer brought with him. The payment for these training days did not work out at a huge hourly rate for the trainer. I think Councils that try to charge them are taking mean-spiritedness to an extreme.

Susan Kelly ● 4425d

I don't see any problem with fitness trainers & Dog walkers using parks. After all somewhere they are paying council tax and tax so why the fuss?However there is another side to the coin.What happens when a dog walker lets dogs of their leads? Or if the dogs foul in the park? And that dog walker fails to clear up?Unfortunately it does happen. Fortunately  by a tiny minority.Same with the fitness trainers.Should they have the right to commandeer the parks fitness equipment and then profit from equipment paid for and maintained for residents?Should they have the right to turf out non clients from the space they want to use for profit?This happens and quite a lot.If they are not using anything more than the ground or the paths, I don't see what the harm is but on the other hand, claiming facilities for their own benefit at the exclusion of those who they are there for is wrong.Most trainers I know bring their own equipment and may use the odd tree, bench or railings.It is those who want to use facilities that are not theirs and exclude local people that need to be reminded of their obligations.

Anthony Waller ● 4425d

Does it really hurt anyone if few personal trainers make a modest living by conducting their classes in the open air on a fine day? It's quiet, it's healthy, it does no damage to the parks - why the resentment? Much better to protest against the commercial exploitation of open spaces such as Ealing Common by the Council. The latest wheeze is a Halal Festival planned for August Bank Holiday which is forecast to attract 20,000 people from all over London. It will occupy - within a fenced area - a very substantial part of the Common; residents will find parking impossible, and so will people who just come to enjoy the open air there. Forget the family picnic or the scratch game of football. The Council is charging the commercial operators of the festival £20,000 for the use of the Common. The entrance fee to the festival is £15.00.  The commercial operators get £14 per visitor, the Council gets £1 and the local residents get noise, hassle and, if past, smaller events are anything to go by, serious damage to a popular amenity which has by no means recovered from the recent bad weather.  The use of Ealing Common for commercial enterprise on this scale is bad enough, but for the Council to practically give the Common away beggars belief.  This is something really worth protesting about.

Christine Gratus ● 4426d

I thought we wanted people to exercise more!How about all those dog walkers? Aren't they running a business and using the park free of charge to do it?

Susan Kelly ● 4426d

Fineing a personal trainer for doing business seems a bit petty, but if the regulations of the park require one to pay a fee then its perfectly reasonable to fine.I have noticed a woman who leads a group of young mums(plus babies in pushchairs/prams) often running and doing step-up exercises in a group of perhaps a dozen mothers in Walpole Park - I wonder if they pay a fee - they seem harmless enough and its amusing to see them so enthusiastic and energetic and so thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Gerry Tan ● 4426d

No issue with the 'one on one (or two)' trainers but those who have groups of 10 (sometimes more) should be considered for some form of charge. That said, if they disrupt no-one else's enjoyment I don't see the harm.

Nigel Brooks ● 4426d