E Scooters soon to be allowed on UK roads?
Discussion
jonobigblind said:
Yep, Halfords wouldn’t have gotten away with selling them for so long if it was illegal to own one in this country.
I’ve seen stories in the press about police stopping people in London but nothing around dawn raids on households and seizing electric scooters just yet.
In my view, it is highly irresponsible of on-line retailers (like Halfords) to sell electric scooters, while failing to mention they cannot be used in public. In fact, they positively encourage their use 'for weekly shopping trip . . . around town ' etc! Bordering on criminal behaviour by Halfords!I’ve seen stories in the press about police stopping people in London but nothing around dawn raids on households and seizing electric scooters just yet.
Edited by Cliftonite on Sunday 6th September 10:47
Jag_NE said:
When I was on holiday these where whizzing everywhere, usually on pavements and often coming round blind corners at speed. It made you feel like you had to be vigilant on the pavement (and your kids) because if any of you made any erratic movements you could get one ploughing into someone’s back. Are they meant to be used on the road in the UK or are they expected to be used on pavements?
So in the town they are being trialed in, the whole place has a comprehensive cycle path network that's nice and wide and seperate from the road. They can be used on roads but only ones with a limit of 30mph or less. They work well there, the cycle network covers the whole town, I rode from the rail station out to the outskirts of town without using anything other than cycle paths. In other towns I'm not sure how well it'd work, if the choice is path or busy road, I suspect the path will be picked. Where I live I've nearly been knocked over when walking the dog by people on eScooters coming flying round the corner, even though the road is perfectly safe and quiet they still choose to use the path. Like anything though, it's down to how it's used by the person riding it.
Cliftonite said:
In my view, it is highly irresponsible of on-line retailers (like Halfords) to sell electric scooters, while failing to mention they cannot be used in public. In fact, they positively encourage their use 'for weekly shopping trip . . . around town ' etc! Bordering on criminal behaviour by Halfords!
I totally agree that Halfords are actually encouraging illegal use and burying any mention of legality deep within a part of their website you wouldn’t find without using certain keywords via google.They proudly proclaim that E Scooters are “your new mode of transport!”
Almost all the UK online scooter sellers are the same.
I watched a video on YouTube a few months ago where reporters were asking e scooter riders in London if they knew they were breaking the law, and 9/10 of them said they thought E Scooters were perfectly legal and went on to say that they wouldn’t have bought it if they were told it was illegal.
When asked if they would stop riding now they knew it was illegal, they mostly answered “Well it cost me £500 which I can’t get back, so I’m going to carry on”
Cliftonite said:
In my view, it is highly irresponsible of on-line retailers (like Halfords) to sell electric scooters, while failing to mention they cannot be used in public. In fact, they positively encourage their use 'for weekly shopping trip . . . around town ' etc! Bordering on criminal behaviour by Halfords!
Jag_NE said:
When I was on holiday these where whizzing everywhere, usually on pavements and often coming round blind corners at speed. It made you feel like you had to be vigilant on the pavement (and your kids) because if any of you made any erratic movements you could get one ploughing into someone’s back. Are they meant to be used on the road in the UK or are they expected to be used on pavements?
I was hit on the pavement yesterday morning but a young girl probably about 14 in Sunbury. She was coming round a blind corner on the pavement. In fairness not going too fast probably about 5 mph. Last minute I put my hands up to protect myself so whilst she pushed me in to the wall she came of the scooter and luckily took a tumble on the pavement not the road. Cheeky bint then had the audacity to swear at me and blame me for her illegally riding an e-scooter on the pavement too fast round a corner making her fall off.
I can imagine if a fully grown bloke had been going faster we both could have come off worse and it doesn’t bare thinking about if she had landed in the main road.
Earbuds in probably doesn’t help with situational awareness either.
768 said:
Probably insufficient risk of getting nicked without them to justify it.
You are probably right, but the police do have occasional crackdowns on e scooters, and the penalties are severe if you own a driving licence (6 points).That alone surely justifies a few stickers to make the Police ignore you because your scooter looks like a rental.
Lord Marylebone said:
You are probably right, but the police do have occasional crackdowns on e scooters, and the penalties are severe if you own a driving licence (6 points).
That alone surely justifies a few stickers to make the Police ignore you because your scooter looks like a rental.
The perverting the course of justice, that might carry is even more serious, anyone marketing the stickers for that would also face the same offence. That alone surely justifies a few stickers to make the Police ignore you because your scooter looks like a rental.
Graveworm said:
The perverting the course of justice, that might carry is even more serious, anyone marketing the stickers for that would also face the same offence.
doesn't stop them selling 250w stickers for 1500w ebikes, £2.50 for 2 and you can get them loads of places. Edited by OldGermanHeaps on Sunday 6th September 15:40
Lord Marylebone said:
You are probably right, but the police do have occasional crackdowns on e scooters, and the penalties are severe if you own a driving licence (6 points).
That alone surely justifies a few stickers to make the Police ignore you because your scooter looks like a rental.
If you didn't have a licence (yet) would it not just be applied to a "ghost" licence?That alone surely justifies a few stickers to make the Police ignore you because your scooter looks like a rental.
Lord Marylebone said:
I’m amazed that you can’t buy stickers to disguise your privately owned scooter as a rental scooter.
I would have thought this was an obvious opportunity?
Limited market though as they’re only being trialled in a few towns / cities. Then distill that down to people who’ve already bought a scooter and are scared about riding it so want to disguise their ownership. I would have thought this was an obvious opportunity?
If you tried it anywhere else and you’d just look like you’ve stolen it
Lord Marylebone said:
I’m amazed that you can’t buy stickers to disguise your privately owned scooter as a rental scooter.
I would have thought this was an obvious opportunity?
That's why I was asking if anyone knew the model of scooter they use I would have thought this was an obvious opportunity?
In all seriousness it's the first trials in a handful of towns so after it's a bit more widespread that might be a popular idea, assuming private ownership & use doesn't become legal. Graveworm said:
The perverting the course of justice, that might carry is even more serious, anyone marketing the stickers for that would also face the same offence.
I'm far from a legal expert but I think they'd struggle to pin that on someone who has stuck a few stickers on a scooter. Graveworm said:
Lord Marylebone said:
You are probably right, but the police do have occasional crackdowns on e scooters, and the penalties are severe if you own a driving licence (6 points).
That alone surely justifies a few stickers to make the Police ignore you because your scooter looks like a rental.
The perverting the course of justice, that might carry is even more serious, anyone marketing the stickers for that would also face the same offence. That alone surely justifies a few stickers to make the Police ignore you because your scooter looks like a rental.
Lord Marylebone said:
I would be incredibly surprised if putting some colourful lime green stickers on a scooter would be classed as perverting the course of justice.
"That alone surely justifies a few stickers to make the Police ignore you because your scooter looks like a rental."Almost a text book example of perverting the course of justice in one line.
Far from certain they would think it was in the public interest but it does push a few aggravating factor buttons.
Would be viewed the same as changing a couple of digits on a numberplate imo though looking at all the people who drive around with impunity on tinted plates these days you'd probably get away with it, if you do get pulled and it's over 250W then you'll likely be looking at 6 points for driving without insurance as well.
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