E-scooters may be legalised with trials in London
SURGE IN USE PUTS PRESSURE ON CHANGE
Transport for London says the trials are vital to enable a “new and PRIVATE e-scooters could be greener” form of transport, helplegalised within the next year. ing to reduce air pollution.
Currently, private e-scooters are The government-backed trials completely illegal, except for use in London have now been on land you own, but that has not extended until at least the end of stopped thousands of people from March 2022, though TfL rules using them on London’s roads. allow this to be extended as late as
The surge in use of e-scooters November next year. has ramped up pressure on the Silviya Barrett, head of policy Government to change the law and research at the Campaign for and put them on a firm legal footBetter Transport, said the Governing. Trials are currently taking ment was working on draft legislaplace across England, including tion to legalise e-scooters after the London, to see whether e-scooters trials, but is struggling to find the can be safely hired. time in the parliamentary calendar.InLondon,Lime,DottandTIER are running the trials in nine borne option would be to extend oughs, plus the City of London. the trials until there is time for new
In October, Mayor Sadiq Khan legislation, though this would said the Government was eager to mean private e-scooters would change the law. remain illegal for the foreseeable
He told the Assembly: “Let us future. see what works. The Secretary of Conservative Assembly Member State I know is quite keen on Neil Garratt said the current legal e-scooters being properly done situation is “not sustainable” in the and will have legislation introlong term. duced. We should work together to “They either need to be banned make sure that legislation is fit for completely or legalised and regupurpose.” larised – which more or less every other European country has now done.
“Currently you walk into a reputable shop, buy one, then set off riding it, which is illegal. It’s almost a form of entrapment. The law sets them up to fail.”
London transport bosses view the hire trials as a success so far.
There were 100,000km of forhire scooter trips made in the capital in October, with an average distance of 2.5km.
However, three serious injuries on the hire scooters were reported in October, bringing the total to nine since June.
While throwing its weight behind the scooter hire scheme, City Hall has been clamping down on privately-owned scooters.
Pledging “robust” action against illegal scooter use in the capital, Sadiq Khan told the Assembly last month: “Through June, the MPS Roads and Transport Policing Command...ran an operation targeting illegal e-scooter use, which led to a record 1,103 unlawful e-scooters being seized in a single month.”