Motorcyclists will be charged £1 a day for on-street parking in central London after council bosses approved the scheme.

The arrangement begins from Monday 25 January, making it the first London authority to do so.

This decision comes even as thirty parking road signs were vandalised or stolen in the past five days.

The total expense of these attacks directed at the scheme were £60,000 since trials began in August 2008.

Westminster council's reasoning is that it was fair for riders to pay to park at about 6,100 on-street spaces.

They say there have been “dramatic” increases in demand for parking in recent days in central London.

Motorcycle ownership in the capital had soared by 50 per cent in the last decade and that even before the rise; motorcycle bays in Westminster were oversubscribed by up to 150 per cent.

Motorcyclists have staged protests to defend free parking and websites challenging the plans have sprung up.

The CEO of one of UK's top bike insurance firm said: “Motorcycles are part of the solution to transport; they do not cause high pollution or congestion.” Westminster says it has listened to motorcyclists and increased the number of bays by 55 per cent.