Combining my exercise with drop paperwork off at my prospective new GP and a quick shop I was riding down the massive cyclepath and path that heads past Didcot Station. A police patrol vehicle heading towards me on my side of the road, flashes its lights, gives a quick toot on its horn/siren thingy and turns on its blue flashers whilst wagging a finger at me.
A policewomen gets out, walks towards me, walks past me looking confused by my stopping and starts talking to the hooded youth who had silently pulled up behind me on his electric scooter.
“Right, can I see your driving license please?”
followed by his “I’m only out getting exercise” and her “You’ll not get much on that will you?”. At that point I stopped evesdropping.
It seems a lot of commuters are ignoring the rules and using them to get to and from the station but others are just tearing round town and being arses.
Seems they are having a bit of a crackdown.

I’d be careful being too smug about “Hooded Youths” being stopped by the Police for using their 15mph Scooters. Illegally.

The exact sort of person who gets all hot under the collar about them, is the same sort of person who things Cyclists should have to use numbers plates, have insurance and pay “road tax”.

The exact sort of person who gets all hot under the collar about them, is the same sort of person who things Cyclists should have to use numbers plates, have insurance and pay “road tax”.

I wish they would hurry up and make them legal. Less traffic, less polution, and the moaners will have a new target.

They are planning on legalising them in Southampton but ONLY if you rent them from the approved sources. Anyone else is still a criminal. I guess the rental bit means there is insurance etc but it might be a challenge to tell which is legal unless they paint the rentals crazy colours.

I suspect that they will face the same problem they had with the bikes though. People want to go from point A to point B. while the point B are likely to be places like the train station , university or shopping centre they Point A is scattered across the city. On the return journey the bikes then got scattered across the city and weren’t exactly convenient to use.

Weird post.
You’re celebrating the cops spending time cracking down on people using low emission efficient alternative transport options?

Erm right.

I suspect that they will face the same problem they had with the bikes though. People want to go from point A to point B. while the point B are likely to be places like the train station , university or shopping centre they Point A is scattered across the city. On the return journey the bikes then got scattered across the city and weren’t exactly convenient to use.

Yes they need to work out the useage demands but even if the docking station isnt very convenient the scooters should end up back there. Big fine/charge if you just abaandon the thing.

Not as bad as in hilly cities where people only want to use the bikes on the downhill trip, and use powered public transport for the uphill leg – leads to a load of full docking stations at teh bottom of the hill and somebody having to truck them all back to the top of the hill every night.

Yes they need to work out the useage demands but even if the docking station isnt very convenient the scooters should end up back there. Big fine/charge if you just abaandon the thing.

We have Voi scooters in Northampton. There’s no docking station, they are left anywhere and everywhere as long as it’s within a specified area which is pretty much the entire town. You have an app on your phone that tells you where the nearest available scooter is then you log onto it and off again when you are done. There’s teams that drive around the town regrouping them and putting charged batteries into them.

We have Voi in Cambridge, they have staff looking very bored hanging around near the parking ares (as there’s very few people out and about right now). Pre lockdown 2 I saw quite a few in use. They collect them up (I think) and stick them back in popular areas, all parked off the pavement etc. Still see far more ‘illegal’ personal scooters in use.

eg this is one of the parking lots near the station, with a very bored ambassador / parking attendant out of photo.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2krviwa]Voi Scooters, Cambridge[/url] by Ben Freeman, on Flickr

Electric scooters I think are basicaly motor vehicles, so they need to be insured appropriatly and have lights etc.

Lots of chavs/drug runners round here abusing it, as you can buy them for less than the cost of a 50cc scooter.

They are a good idea in principle, but the low lev crims know it too, and are maximising the abuse of the loop holes in the law, using young kids as delivery drivers etc.

Point A is scattered across the city. On the return journey the bikes then got scattered across the city and weren’t exactly convenient to use.

There’s a person near us who stashes one between two houses, almost guaranteeing it is still there the next day.

They are a bit of a problem in town. Lots of users just leave them in the middle of the pavement/bike path. As such there was a trend of people moving them, often over fences or on top of bus shelters.

“5 – O”? Are you Glaswegian?

There are bright yellow ones for hire in Aylesbury, seemingly you have to park them in the various yellow painted squares around town.

By making only the hired ones legal it does kinda fly in the face of the convenience of them 🤔

5 – O”? Are you Hawaiian?

I find them f*****g annoying and round here they are inevitably ridden by scrotes. I agree it would be far better to legalise them, and I might even get one myself if they did. In the meantime I wish they would confiscate and crush the flipping things…

5 – O”? Are you Hawaiian?

He’s achingly cool. I bet if he makes a purchase online he “pulls the trigger”.

Weird post.
You’re celebrating the cops spending time cracking down on people using low emission efficient alternative transport options?

Erm right.

TBF leccy scooters seems to be the must have toy for several of the local scrotes this year. We’re not talking about well meaning tweenagers making responsible transport choices:

Billy drug mule can randomly razz all over the place on the road/pavement/grass verges hoody up buzzing Peds like a bell end en route to his next drop, lights after dark are for losers too…

Plus they’ve only recently been licensed for rental in UK cities right? Not private ownership/use on public roads? So they are actually illegal.

Thing is, wrong ‘uns and criminals will use anything incorrectly.

If we can use more of these things, it’s one less car time. Win.

My sister in law has moved from a big wheel scooter and train a couple of stops to just e-scooter. She absolutely loves it, it’s shortened the commute and the kids join her for the school run element. She’s got a rucksack so picks up shopping etc on the way home. Great cycle lanes now being put in, and support to use them from government is working well. This is New Zealand of course, not UK.

“5 – O”? Are you Glaswegian?

🙂

5 – O”? Are you Hawaiian?

Sadly neither. Nor am I achingly cool, just aching most days.
I was merely trying not to use fuzz, scuffers, Po-Po or the phrase popular amongst 90s West London villains I used to work on the periphery of: ‘the filth’.

Pardon, but surely you mean the filf.

Not in Slough in the late 80s.

The Babylon 😀

If he had a hat on rather than a hood would you be just as pleased?

Baseball cap or trilby? And don’t blame me for his fashion decisions.

What PJay said.

They are mechanically propelled vehicles, thus if they are on the highway [rather than on the pavement] they are illegal without insurance [and God knows what else if the law has yet caught up] Weirdly I can’t see how they are legal within brit law on pavements either. Any one know what the law is on this?

The UK seems to need laws to make things legal. Anything else like eclectic scooters that they didn’t know would exist are therefore illegal. Seems a bit strange to me. Perhaps make everything legal but some basic rules in place like:

A person may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
A person must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
A person must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.[1]

Loads around here in Portsmouth being ridden by adults and kids, all illegal as they have no helmets on and the kids have no driving licence

Nearly got taken out by one when me and my 3 year old stepped out of our gate the other morning

Also almost knocked one off the other night in the car as it flew round a corner with no lights on and the rider looking behind him rather than where was going

They would be a great alternative form of transport if they were used properly and safely but so far Ive seen more dangerous use than safe so far

To be legal in the UK they must be hired from a private hire firm (if in private ownership they can only be used on private land)

At the moment, they are classified as Personal Light Electric Vehicles (PLEVs), so they’re treated as motor vehicles and are subject to all the same legal requirements – MOT, tax, licensing and specific construction.

So, because they don’t always have visible rear red lights, number plates or signalling ability, they can’t be used legally on the roads.

Just noticed that most of the STW comments, suggestions and criticisms match the anti-cycling complaints.

Any definition of the issue we nee to address?

eclectic scooters

Ones that play r’n’b and heavy rock 😛

That is all I’ve got on the matter. Haven’t really been outside enough to get stressed about eclectic or electric scooters.

the filth’.

Can you smell bacon?

Weirdly I can’t see how they are legal within brit law on pavements

They aren’t. Privately owned scooters can only be legally ridden on private land. Rental scooters should not be ridden on pavements. But they are and there’s no enforcement.

Should make helmets compulsary for the riders, that’ll sort em.

Mega popular here in Liverpool via some kinda Council backed new startup company – they’re limited to 10mph I think so not too much bellendery can be accomplished.

Just noticed that most of the STW comments, suggestions and criticisms match the anti-cycling complaints.
Any definition of the issue we nee to address?

Asimovian laws aside, TBH I think there’s an argument for allowing them as vehicles that don’t require a licence, Road and Cycle path use only limited to 15Mph, Only stipulations being that operators must be over the age of 15(?), they must have working brakes acting on both wheels and after dark they must be illuminated as a bicycle would be?

That seems reasonable IMO, Ride them unlit on the road after dark, or on a pavement at any time a bollocking/confiscation should follow…

They’re actually subject to more restrictive rules as rental scooters, than bicycles/E-bikes at present…
I would contend there’s a close equivalence to bikes perhaps, the age of user point maybe being a sticking point…

It’s not really that hard, but no bugger seems inclined to make a simple ruling on the topic, so they’ve just become illegal, Scrote transport by default…

Well came in here, and disappoint.

Thought we were gonna discuss the Trek Y5-0

Was just looking at them earlier. Nearly all have lights and are limited to 15.5mph. They seem to have taken off in the US where everyone just seems to ride on the pavement.

I’ve used them in the US, in Austin. On the road in downtown. A bit exciting at times with the other road users. Seem to be used on the sidewalk a lot, but I didn’t think that was best with all the people around.

Related story on BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-55644560

“Bicycles suffer equally from poor road surfaces so why do the police not think the roads are unsuitable for them?”
Equally? Yeah, those bicycles with 5 inch wheels and solid tyres*, always crashing.

*ooh, scooters have air in em! doh

From that BBC article, a manufacturer of them says,

Banning e-scooters, especially when they are legal in most other countries, is not the way forward.

The UK should know that taking away freedom usually has the reverse impact

Someone should explain to them that they’ve not been banned, they just don’t conform to current UK road laws.

I’m really surprised that large companies like Halfords are so much on the bandwagon, I know it’s a lot of profit for them, but if someone got injured or killed away from private land and their processes for explaining the lack of legality isn’t absolutely watertight there’s significant risk of being fined.

like everything as long as its not used like your are a bit of a d**k, i think they could only be a good thing.

P.S. we are locals i’m just other side of Didcot.