More than 50 organisations, including six local authorities, have signed a letter calling on the Government to legalise e-scooters.
Rental e-scooters are only available through Government trials, due to end in May 2024, in some towns and cities in England. It is illegal to use private e-scooters on public roads.
Rental e-scooters in London, January 2023
Richard Dilks, chief executive of Collaborative Mobility UK, said: ‘The evidence from the trials is that e-scooters are incredibly popular, with huge demand from users, and the UK has been left as an international outlier by not introducing permanent legality.
‘To address the crisis levels of transport emissions in the UK and help people save money amid the cost-of-living crisis, the government can’t delay any further.’
Essex County Council, Milton Keynes City Council, Somerset Council, North Northamptonshire Council, West Northamptonshire Council and West Yorkshire Combined Authority have all signed the letter.
The signatories also raised concerns about an estimated 750,000 privately owned and unregulated e-scooters in the UK, which they said were unlikely to undergo regular maintenance or have government-mandated safety features.
The letter said private e-scooters were a concern for road users, particularly disabled people, and could be unsafe for riders – but said legislation and regulation could make a difference.
Mike Bell, head of public affairs and campaigns at Thomas Pocklington Trust, a national charity working with blind and partially sighted people, said:
‘Unregulated and illegal private e-scooters are terrorising visually impaired pedestrians and many other people on our pavements.'
Mr Bell said the Government urgently needed to ‘regulate the market for both private and rental e-scooters in favour of those responsible companies actively building in safety and street etiquette.’
This story first appeared on localgov.co.uk.
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