New evidence was come to light regarding the low numbers on the e-petition, despite thousands of people from around the UK signing the online E-petition. After months of hard work by the Save our Helicopter campaign to promote both the e-petition and the written petition. Numbers have actually been falling, which is not possible on a Government on line e- petition. We now know that problems due exist with the e-petition, people who do not live in Dorset, and do not have a DT postcode have been refused to have their vote registered . Only this week have we been told by Mr Ben Sneddon Assistant Private Secretary (Parliamentary Reform) to the Leader of the House of Commons, In his letter he states the following:
“There appears to have been a problem over the weekend with some browsers (depending on security settings) not displaying the‘captcha’ code that people are required to enter to verify their signature. This was caused by the external provider’s site, rather than our own, and while our engineers are working to replace the captcha software, we have temporarily removed that requirement from people starting or signing petitions.”
The Save our Helicopter campaign team have been monitoring the e-petition page for the last 8 weeks, we have seen the number change and go down, this is not acceptable. When Dr Ian Mew started the first e-petition, by July the 7th this year it had 5000 signed , After the Dorset floods and the following press stories, together with the formation of the Campaign group, we reached 18,500 in just over 3 weeks. As many now know we had no choice but to remove this e petition, as it only had a few months left. It was decided that a new one would be started, and Richard Drax MP set in motion the new e-petition. What should have happened at this point, is that every person who signed the first e-petition should have been informed by email that a new one had been set up. This we believe did not take place.
Had it taken place we would have started the new online petition with at the very least 15,000. We are convinced that the campaign team should have 35,000 to 40,000 signed , instead of the 13,600 at present.
It is clear that major problems exist with the online e-petition. And that if it is not rectified as soon as possible, we will not reach the target of 100,000 .
Signed A. McNamee
Alan McNamee
Local Campaign press officer for Save our Helicopter
Copies to
The Rt Hon Richard Drax MP
The Rt Hon Andrew Lansley MP
The Rt Hon Ben Sneddon MP
The Rt Hon Oliver Letwin MP
The Dorset Echo Newspaper Editorial Team
The View From group of Newspapers Editorial Team
The Western Gazette Newspaper Editorial Team
Wessex FM RadioNews Team
BBC local Radio (Dorset) News Team
The Dorset Eye online news
The Transport select committee
The Leader of the House on Commons Select committee for E petitions
DEEP concerns grow as E-petition website admits problems.We have, as many of you know, been having issues with the online e-petition. After numbers seem to disappear. We now know that issues have been known by the Government department responsible for the e-petition. Richard Drax MP will be taking the issue to the leader of the house of commons. Meanwhile we will inform many people via Newspapers, Radio and Social networks of the problem.
E-Petition issues. A number of people are having problems with signing the e-petition, the problem seems to be the code it asks you to copy, but then tells you, you got it wrong. I have reported this issue to the Gov: dept. and awaiting a reply.The running total on the e-petition stands at just over 13,600
The total number of the written petition, now stands at 58,000!!! Well done to Belinda who got it off the ground and is running the petition!
The ongoing campaign to save both our full time Coastguards and our Search & Rescue SAR Helicopter in Portland (Dorset)
Please sign the online e-petition. Its so easy!!
Mac
