A powered wheelchair user in Westminster has described the daily hazards posed by dockless hire ebikes and e-scooters, warning that the current system transfers risk onto pedestrians, disabled people, and older people.
Abandoned bikes block dropped kerbs and crossings
Colin Hughes, who uses a powered wheelchair in central London, said he regularly finds hire ebikes and scooters abandoned across pavements, dropped kerbs, and crossings. While a walking person can step around them, he may be blocked entirely, forced to reverse, or pushed into the road.
Hughes said: “I regularly find hire ebikes and scooters abandoned across pavements, dropped kerbs and crossings. A walking person may step around them. I may be blocked entirely.”
Near miss at zebra crossing
Hughes has been hit by an e-scooter while crossing the road near his home. Outside Tate Britain, at a zebra crossing, he was almost run over by a rider looking at his mobile phone. There was a millimetre between his wheelchair and the bike. “Had he hit me at speed, the consequences could have been catastrophic,” he said.
The case of Jane Ouartsi, who was hit by a child on a Lime bike and denied compensation, highlights a serious loophole. Hughes argues that the issue is not only age verification but whether these bikes can be ridden at all by someone who has not been identified, verified, and charged for the journey. “A heavy electric hire bike should not be usable anonymously,” he said. “Allowing that risk to persist is a commercial choice, not a technological inevitability.”
Penalties for dumped bikes too low
Hughes pointed out that in Westminster, a higher-rate car parking penalty is £160, reduced to £80 if paid promptly. “If a badly parked car can attract that sanction, why should dumped hire ebikes and scooters be treated more lightly when they block disabled people’s safe passage?” he asked.
Readers call for licensing and insurance
Another reader, Richard C Harris of Wallington, London, proposed a system where the person hiring an ebike is first registered and approved, agreeing to strict terms and conditions that ensure liability. The hire company would either require proof of insurance or cover the rider under a group policy. A person’s “licence” to hire an ebike could be revoked or suspended for breaches. “It is of the utmost importance that no victim should remain without due compensation,” Harris said.
Richard Beeching of Hove, East Sussex, a former London bicycle commuter, said Lime bikes are mostly ridden and parked with little consideration. He noted that the clacking din of hacked Lime bikes gives an “arsehole incoming” warning but has become the soundtrack to the capital. He called for charging by time and allowing parking on pavements to be changed.
Accessibility balance badly wrong
Hughes, who supports cleaner streets and fewer car journeys, said he is not opposed to ebikes in principle. But he stressed: “A livable city must be accessible as well as convenient for everyone. For many Londoners, especially wheelchair users, blind people and older people, that balance is badly wrong today.”
