Bedford Park Residents’ Group Civil War Continues

Accusations of spoof accounts made as association name is trademarked

The dispute between rival residents’ groups in Bedford Park has continued with one side now claiming they are being lampooned in spoof Twitter and Facebook accounts.

One group who say they are made up of the founders of the association have been forced to stop using the name ‘Bedford Park Residents’ Association’ (BPRA) after it was trademarked by Chimni Ltd, a company owned by Nigel Walley who set up the online presence of the association.

They have reformed as the Bedford Park Community Group but no sooner had they adopted the new name than a Twitter account and Facebook page were set up using this name. The account is described as being for ‘A community group addressing loneliness and disaffection amongst older, retired people in Bedford Park with a particular focus on teaching digital skills’ and has thus far mainly tweeted about the elderly and digital exclusion. The Bedford Park Community Group say that it is nothing to do with them and that they believe it has been set up by members of the rival group to poke fun at them. We asked the BPRA for a comment on who was behind the accounts and were told that the accounts were definitely not set up by any of the 'core' BPRA management team but that it was possible one of their members could have created them.

Hugh Johnson, chair of the Bedford Park Community Group said, “As a result of a seemingly bizarre legal quirk, and despite us making strong representations to the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), Nigel Walley has been successful in registering the phrase 'Bedford Park Residents Association' as a trademark under his company. This simply means that he has acquired rights in that name and nothing more but we are completely baffled by the IPO’s decision to grant the trademark of a community body seemingly in favour of a commercial entity.“

Hugh Johnson pictured at a meeting during the last election

Immediately after the announcement of the new name, the fake Twitter and Facebook accounts were created posing as the Bedford Park Community Group and using its logo. These Tweets and Facebook posts also appeared on the home page of the BPRA’s website along with a fake announcement about the launch of the new name. This was then followed by an email from BPRA Chairman, Terry Scott, to the membership database.

Hugh Johnson commented, “Inexplicably, it seems that the BPRA has decided to mock us and our new name and is falsely representing us and our objectives. The Bedford Park Community Group has absolutely no association with the BPRA website and we continue to take advice on how to resolve the problem.”

Nigel Walley

At this stage it looks as though the legal arguments between the two groups may escalate further with both sides disputing ownership of the membership funds collected to date.

In the meantime, the committee of the newly renamed Bedford Park Community Group recently made a final challenge to Ealing Council on behalf of their members about the imposition of wheelie bins and is currently lobbying for smaller, shorter bins for residents who will have to store the bins in front gardens.

To contact the Bedford Park Community Group email assoc.communications@gmail.com.

Neither the Bedford Park Residents’ Association or the Bedford Park Community Group is affiliated with the Bedford Park Society which works to conserve the character of the area.

If you have an opinion on the matter, you can discuss on our forum.

March 22, 2016