An e-scooter trial used thousands of times in a matter of days has been halted after riders mounted pavements and zipped through shopping areas, sparking complaints from pedestrians.
Tees Valley Combined Authorities launched the Government-backed initiative to boost the number of e-scooters on Britain’s roads, by starting with 50 vehicles in Middlesborough.
It had planned to expand to Hartlepool, but a series of complaints led to the scheme being pulled from the town.
Speaking at the time, Hartlepool’s MP Mike Hill said e-scooters were ‘as useful as a chocolate fireguard’.
The Labour MP told The Independent: ‘Using scooters to get people off buses as a way of beating either climate change or coronavirus is farcical. It is fiddling while Rome burns. Whatever the question, e-scooters in Hartlepool are not the answer.’
Coventry has followed suit, becoming the first city to suspend the scheme amid concerns over safety.
Local authorities, including in Milton Keynes, above, have been able to launch 12-month pilots into e-scooter rental around towns and cities. But pedestrians have complained about riders
Just five days after the vehicles were legally allowed in the city as part of a 12-month pilot, the local authority has paused its rental scheme with Swedish company Voi.
The Department for Transport launched a new 12 month scheme at the start of July which would make it legal to ride e-scooters on roads – they would, however, need to be rented and would be capped at 15.5mph.
Local authorities have to opt into the scheme, while private companies provide the hire-vehicles.
According to The Times, around 5,000 rides were taken in Coventry in the first few days of the scheme.
YouTube star and TV presenter Emily Hartridge, 34, became the first person in the UK to die in an e-scooter accident when she was struck by a lorry in Battersea in July 2019
Pedestrians quickly flocked to Facebook to talk about near misses with the two-wheeled vehicles.
One said she had been almost ‘knocked over by about four of these in the space of five minutes on Friday night,’ The Times reports.
Others complained about reckless riders who were mounting pavements in the city centre.
Tees Valley Combined Authorities launched the Government-backed initiative to boost the number of e-scooters on Britain’s roads, by starting with 50 vehicles in Middlesborough.
But the local authority scrapped plans to expand the pilot to Hartlepool after the scheme caused complaints
Coventry City Council paused the scheme on Monday.
A spokesman for the council said: ‘The initial take-up has been encouraging but we need to ensure that the safety of all people using the city centre is protected and that the e-scooters are used in the proper way, hence our decision to pause the pilot until systems are improved.’
Riding rental e-scooters on the roads and cycle paths became legal on July 4.
Milton Keynes and Birmingham have successfully launched the scheme, with around 50 local authorities thought to be interested.
However, riding these scooters on pavements will remain illegal and will only be allowed in pre-approved locations where the hiring scheme is taking place.
It will still be illegal to ride privately-owned electric scooters on the pavement, roads and cycle paths.
You can only ride your own e-scooter on private land, with permission from the person who owns the land.
You must have a driving licence or a provisional driving licence and be at least 16 years old to hire an electric scooter.
Road safety groups and charities advocating for protection of people with sensory difficulties have raised serious objections to the legalisation of e-scooters.
Chris Theobald, public affairs manager at Guide Dogs, said: ‘E-scooters are extremely difficult for blind and partially sighted people to detect and avoid because they operate quietly which makes them difficult to hear.
‘It’s disappointing that despite sharing information and best practice guidelines with all operators, reassurances made by some operators about safety and use of e-scooters have not been met.
‘Local authorities running the trials need to make sure that operators are meeting their obligations and if the trials are not being run safely, they need to be reviewed and paused immediately if necessary.’
Andrew Hodgson, president of the National Federation for the Blind, said in June: ‘After learning about the accidents e-scooters have caused, it is very clear to me they are not fit for purpose.
‘Riders appear to fall from them very easily, causing serious head injuries along with many broken bones.
‘It is also clear from practical experience, dockless e-scooters simply do not work as the machines can end up anywhere in the city.
‘This causes totally random potential barriers to access across city pavement and public space for disabled and elderly people and mothers with buggies.
‘At a time of social distancing when urgency has been placed by the Government on active travel, it is critical that all spare public space on the highway is protected for walking and cycling.
‘E-scooters will only take people away from active travel and those embracing walking and cycling will be faced with danger and chaos if e-scooters are legalised in the UK.’
There were 32 collisions involving e-scooters in 2019, including Emily Hartridge, who was the only fatality.
YouTube star and TV presenter Ms Hartridge became the first person in the UK to be killed while riding an e-scooter when she was struck by a lorry in Battersea, south London, in July last year.