No one is stopping illegal electric scooters

About one month ago I was walking near the Sainsburys supermarket in Maidenhead and was confronted by a woman riding an electric scooter on the pavement at considerable speed.

I signalled to her to stop, and she did so, looking puzzled.

I told her that it was illegal to ride an electric scooter on public pavements and roads, but she was unconvinced.

I repeated the legal situation that there were currently limited trials of rental scooters in areas of cities such as London, but otherwise the use of scooters was restricted to private property.

In the end I thought that I had got my message across.

But lo and behold, as I walked down Market Street this week, the very same woman came at me on the pavement on the same electric scooter.

I saw her coming and we narrowly avoided a collision but, if she had approached me from behind, I would not have seen or heard her coming and there could have been a nasty accident.

She clearly has not accepted that what she is doing is illegal and I suspect that she is riding on the Maidenhead pavements on a daily basis.

About 10 minutes later I had to avoid another woman on an electric scooter on the pavement at the bottom of the High Street.

I looked around for any form of law enforcement officers or wardens but, as usual, there were none to be seen.

It seems that these women were either unaware of the law or brazenly breaking it – but it seems that there is no education or enforcement.

I am convinced that it is just a short matter of time before there is an accident resulting in injury.

Who will be responsible – the council or the police?

I suspect that they will blame each other but that will be of little consolation to the person who has been killed or injured. JOANNA SEARS

The Pagoda Maidenhead