E Scooters soon to be allowed on UK roads?

[hutchst]

Does anybody actually have personal experience of getting 6 (or any other number) points on their licence for riding an electric scooter?

[jonobigblind]

hutchst said:

Does anybody actually have personal experience of getting 6 (or any other number) points on their licence for riding an electric scooter?

About the same number of people that have had their arm broken by a swan in the last 6 months...

I’ve had my scooter for a year now and seen countless posts warning of the penalties but none have been backed up with hard evidence of a prosecution as yet.

[Graveworm]

jonobigblind said:

hutchst said:

Does anybody actually have personal experience of getting 6 (or any other number) points on their licence for riding an electric scooter?

About the same number of people that have had their arm broken by a swan in the last 6 months...

I’ve had my scooter for a year now and seen countless posts warning of the penalties but none have been backed up with hard evidence of a prosecution as yet.

Could all be fake news.
https://www.hemeltoday.co.uk/news/crime/four-e-sco...
https://www.reddit.com/r/londoncycling/comments/cg...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7290291/P...
https://youtu.be/V56cjoTsxkw

[jonobigblind]

Yep. Naughty people, don’t do it again...few fines but no points as yet (that I’ve seen).

[Graveworm]

jonobigblind said:

Yep. Naughty people, don’t do it again...few fines but no points as yet (that I’ve seen).

The fines and power to seize scooters are for no insurance that carries a (Pretty much) mandatory minimum of 6 points and is usually dealt with by fixed penalty which is 6 points & £300.

Edited by Graveworm on Tuesday 8th September 10:33

[768]

Graveworm said:

https://youtu.be/V56cjoTsxkw

The end of that clip's very good.

[jonobigblind]

Graveworm said:

The fines and power to seize scooters are for no insurance that carries a (Pretty much) mandatory minimum of 6 points and is usually dealt with by fixed penalty which is 6 points & £300.

Edited by Graveworm on Tuesday 8th September 10:33

The phrase ‘pretty much’ doesn’t mean it’s applied. Walking around in public with a loaded air rifle carries a mandatory 5 year prison sentence (along with other similar firearms offences) and more often than not this is dropped in favour of some other form of punishment.

None of the links reference anyone receiving points, plus Reddit and Daily Mail aren’t decent sources of news.

I’m not denying people have been stopped, warned and even fined on some occasions, it’s just the 6 points that I’ve yet to see hard evidence of.

[Cupramax]

768 said:

Graveworm said:

https://youtu.be/V56cjoTsxkw

The end of that clip's very good.

@ plod double take

[Graveworm]

jonobigblind said:

The phrase ‘pretty much’ doesn’t mean it’s applied. Walking around in public with a loaded air rifle carries a mandatory 5 year prison sentence (along with other similar firearms offences) and more often than not this is dropped in favour of some other form of punishment.

None of the links reference anyone receiving points, plus Reddit and Daily Mail aren’t decent sources of news.

I’m not denying people have been stopped, warned and even fined on some occasions, it’s just the 6 points that I’ve yet to see hard evidence of.

They can't give a fixed penalty for less than 6 points for no insurance. A court can't give less than 6 points (It's a must endorse may disqualify offence) except in very unusual circumstances which have nothing to do with it being a scooter and it's not discretionary.
The earliest case I can find, for an electric scooter is DPP vs King from 2008

Edited by Graveworm on Tuesday 8th September 10:56

[wsn03]

Just missed being run over by one of these things on Saturday as it came flying past a shop door. The kid on it was on full chat along the pavement darting between people. I'm guessing its only a matter of time before something fatal happens. Shame because they have some definite possibilities for fun / commuting

[jonobigblind]

wsn03 said:

Just missed being run over by one of these things on Saturday as it came flying past a shop door. The kid on it was on full chat along the pavement darting between people. I'm guessing its only a matter of time before something fatal happens. Shame because they have some definite possibilities for fun / commuting

Someone has been killed on one of these already. Admittedly, they were on the road and not the pavement but both rider and pedestrians are extremely vulnerable on these. Not many wear protective gear (that I’ve seen) and some riders seem too complacent / ignorant of their surroundings.

They have great value in reducing traffic on commutes and also safer to pop down the shops with but when someone tries to negotiate the Hanger Lane roundabout and cuts it too fine with a lorry, it’s obvious who’ll get hurt.

[geeks]

jonobigblind said:

wsn03 said:

Just missed being run over by one of these things on Saturday as it came flying past a shop door. The kid on it was on full chat along the pavement darting between people. I'm guessing its only a matter of time before something fatal happens. Shame because they have some definite possibilities for fun / commuting

Someone has been killed on one of these already. Admittedly, they were on the road and not the pavement but both rider and pedestrians are extremely vulnerable on these. Not many wear protective gear (that I’ve seen) and some riders seem too complacent / ignorant of their surroundings.

They have great value in reducing traffic on commutes and also safer to pop down the shops with but when someone tries to negotiate the Hanger Lane roundabout and cuts it too fine with a lorry, it’s obvious who’ll get hurt.

Which all applies to a push bike too.

[PF62]

www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/coven...

Well what a surprise - electric scooters are being used anti-socially on pavements and in pedestrianised areas.

What on earth did they expect?

[anonymous-user]

PF62 said:

www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/coven...

Well what a surprise - electric scooters are being used anti-socially on pavements and in pedestrianised areas.

What on earth did they expect?

I’m guessing they expected them to be used mostly sensibly like they are in other countries.

[JQ]

Lord Marylebone said:

PF62 said:

www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/coven...

Well what a surprise - electric scooters are being used anti-socially on pavements and in pedestrianised areas.

What on earth did they expect?

I’m guessing they expected them to be used mostly sensibly like they are in other countries.

Could you imagine if bicycle use was dictated by the general public. Bikes would be banned in seconds, as clearly all cyclists are homicidal maniacs intent on killing pedestrians, dogs and small children. And when not killing things they're causing £billions of damage to innocent vehicles and causing hours and hours of traffic jams for each motorist. The complaints would be endless.

[PF62]

Lord Marylebone said:

PF62 said:

www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/coven...

Well what a surprise - electric scooters are being used anti-socially on pavements and in pedestrianised areas.

What on earth did they expect?

I’m guessing they expected them to be used mostly sensibly like they are in other countries.

Then they were deluded as most of the electric scooters I have seen being used illegally before these schemes launched were being used in exactly these anti-social ways.

[silverthorn2151]

Where? Where have you seen this relentless anti social e-scootering and what were they doing?

[ElectricSoup]

I see it in Reading most days, this morning's idiot was a full grown man (as always), about 30, with an alice band on his greasy barnet of course, looking like a complete wrong 'un, on the pavement, weaving his way through school children walking to school.

I'm in favour of allowing the things on the roads in urban environments, by the way. I'd probably get one myself. But at the moment they seem like the preserve of the selfish, law-breaking idiots.

[LunarOne]

How is that surprising? Right now they are illegal to use except in very limited circumstances, so the only people using them are those that have little respect for the law.

[anonymous-user]

LunarOne said:

How is that surprising? Right now they are illegal to use except in very limited circumstances, so the only people using them are those that have little respect for the law.

Indeed.

If you are buying one to ride on the street or commute etc, you are clearly willing to break the law from day one, so why stop there?

I think if the riding of privately owned scooters became legal, we would see standards of riding similar to that of cars and bicycles: Mostly law abiding with a few idiots.

Likewise, all these 'incidents' that occur with rental scooters probably wouldn't happen with privately owned ones. You aren't going to pay £500 for your own scooter then throw it in a canal, trash it, jump it down the town hall steps, or ride it in a manner that may result in it being confiscated. Whereas at present with the rental scooters, any idiot over 16 can hire one for a few quid then destroy it or ride it antisocially with very little consequence.