I’m guessing it’s a slow news time, dig out the old reliable Cyclist stories.
As far as I am aware the police can seize any uninsured motor vehicle being used on a road. It is then not released until a valid insurance certificate is produced. As these bikes are not insurable every seized bike is permanently off the roads.
It wouldn’t be long before the message got out.
The police tried a ‘sting’ operation once on City Road in Cardiff (basically one long road full of takeaways for non-locals) and within 5 minutes of the first one being stopped every rider/driver for all the apps was avoiding the area and refusing to do any pickups on that road. By the time the police had dealt with the first one there was no one else to deal with! The operation was setup as it was well-known that drugs were being delivered using them (it’s a perfect way to spend all evening doing deliveries and just blend in) so the illegal bike side was secondary but it showed just how up against it the police are in getting the resources to deal with the issue.
I did suggest to a PCSO that it would be easier to setup a team that waited at a delivery address for the riders to turn up and nick them then, I’m sure a few students would be willing if they got free food out of the deal so that the address wasn’t the same one all the time.
