Bedfordshire Police have been praised for “not tolerating” what a councillor has described as the “menace” of e-scooters being ridden on pavements and highways across Bedford Borough.
During last week’s Environment and Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee (20 November), cllr Charles Royden (Lib Dem, Brickhill) hoped that they could be “crushed and driven off our streets”.
He was responding to an update from Bedfordshire Police, who seized 11 e-scooters in just two days as part of a crackdown on illegal riding.
Read: PCC says “don’t buy e-scooters this Christmas”
Superintendent Ian Taylor said e-scooters are illegal to use, “Yet they appear on most people’s shopping lists at Christmas.
“So there’s advice going through the schools to educate parents and children to say, actually, if you do procure one, there’s actually some legal requirements for you to use them. You can’t just hop on, and away you go.
“There are dedicated days of action to deal with that, and that’s led to 11 e-scooters across two days this month being seized.
“And that will continue as we move forward.”
Read: Legal e-scooters could be coming to Bedford as council reviews trial application
Check legality
Cllr Royden asked if it was not lawful to use an e-scooter anywhere on a public highway.
Superintendent Taylor said: “There are ways that you can use an e-scooter legally, but there are requirements that need to be set in place. When our officers engage, it’s around checking the legality.
“Some town centres up and down the country have e-scooter schemes where you can use your card, tap and pay, and you can use the e-scooter from one point to the other.
“So, it’s not to say that the equipment per se is illegal, but there are legislative requirements around them that have to be in place to enable it to be lawfully used.”
Bedfordshire police and crime commissioner, John Tizard (Labour), said the government needs to tighten the law.
“E-scooters could be outlawed tomorrow, with the exception of those monitored schemes like the one in Milton Keynes. But e-scooters in town centres, villages and neighbourhoods are dangerous.
“They put individuals, often the young person riding them, at risk, and I’ve seen some pretty horrible videos, not local videos, of some pretty nasty outcomes. They put pedestrians at risk, particularly vulnerable people, because they’re silent.
“But I think anything we can do to persuade the Department for Transport that they should be outlawing e-scooters, the better,” he said.
“Absolute menace”
Cllr Royden added that a “very strong message” needs to be given.
Read: Letters: Crackdown needed on ‘illegal’ e-scooters
“They are a danger to the people who use them, and they’re a danger to the people on pavements, they’re an absolute menace,” he said.
“I would encourage any parent who’s listening tonight to understand that if they’re buying their child, it’s a 99 per cent chance it’s absolutely illegal.
“They cannot use it on a public highway; there should be no ambiguity, and I was really pleased to see that [Bedfordshire Police] were not tolerating it.
“That you were taking measures to have them I hope crushed and driven off our streets, because of an absolute menace.”
By John Guinn
Local Democracy Reporter
