Asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government whether they plan to regulate the
use of e-bikes.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Transport () (Con)
My Lords, there are regulations in place which govern the use of
e-bikes on the public highway. Enforcement of these is a matter
for the police. All road users have a duty to behave in a safe,
responsible manner and to follow the rules set out in the Highway
Code.
(LD)
My Lords, there have been three tragic deaths of 15 and 16
year-olds in recent months, in Cardiff, my home city, and
Salford. An exciting new invention—e-bikes—are rapidly becoming a
major road safety and social problem, largely because of a lack
of appropriate, modern regulations. Will the Minister commit to
an urgent review to consider requirements such as helmets and a
minimum age for the more powerful bikes? Very importantly, will
the Government ensure that anti-tampering technology is installed
by manufacturers? It is very easy indeed to override the 15.5 mph
speed limit.
(Con)
There has been some confusion in the media about e-bikes versus
e-motorbikes; the two are very different. Obviously, what
happened in Salford and Cardiff is tragic. On both those
occasions, the individuals involved would have been breaking the
law on multiple levels. I accept the noble Baroness’s point about
tampering, but e-bikes are subject to type approval, like
motorbikes and cars are. The DVSA has a market surveillance
programme to make sure that e-bikes on sale meet the standards
that we have.
The Lord Speaker ()
My Lords, the noble Lord, , wishes to speak
remotely.
(Lab) [V]
With reports of fires due to excessive heat being generated
during the charging of e-bikes in enclosed storage
areas—particularly in underground car parks, and even within
flats when external storage is unavailable—is there not a need
for an urgent further safety review, followed by guidance on
safety measures, or even further regulations if necessary?
(Con)
I am delighted to say that the Government are already conducting
that research. The Department for Business and Trade is working
with the Home Office and the Department for Transport in
assessing exactly what the issue is. We are also developing
guidance jointly with the industry which will advise on charging
e-bikes and various other safety measures concerning their
batteries.
(Con)
My Lords, I am an owner and an enthusiastic user of e-bikes. They
are great; I use them both in the country and in London. To the
extent that there are problems with use, those arise in large
part because of the difficulties of enforcing existing
regulations. I hope the Government will be very slow to introduce
new regulations which might make life difficult for responsible
users.
(Con)
I am incredibly grateful to my noble friend, because we know that
e-bikes have huge environmental benefits. They can be used on
more difficult journeys, and they can take those who may be less
able—which, of course, I am not suggesting is the case
here—further and slightly faster. If we were to change the
regulations on e-bikes, which are very clear at the moment, we
would do so with an abundance of caution.
(Lab)
My Lords, can the Minister confirm whether there is any type
approval for the types of what I think she called e-bikes that
are not limited to the speed of a normal Brompton bike, such as
the electric one I have, and do not need any pedal power? It
seems to me that there are lots of them running around London and
other places that can go any speed, do not need numberplates or
helmets, and probably do not have any insurance.
(Con)
No, those people who are riding those vehicles in those
circumstances are breaking the law. All vehicles that are not
e-bikes—they would be electric motorbikes—have to be registered
with the DVLA, insured and taxed; the person would have to have a
driving licence and to wear a helmet. Essentially, they would be
the same as a traditional ICE motorbike and, yes, there is type
approval of those vehicles.
(Con)
My Lords, my noble friend replied to a Written Question from me,
saying:
“The Government is considering bringing forward legislation to
introduce new offences concerning careless or dangerous
cycling”,
particularly in the case of “irresponsible cycling behaviour”,
including by e-cyclists. Will she support my Road Traffic
Offences (Cycling) Bill, which would introduce the offences to
which she refers in her Answer?
(Con)
My noble friend is quite right: the Government are considering it
and we will publish our consultation response soon.
(Non-Afl)
My Lords, as we have heard, there are already lots of rules
governing e-bikes limiting their power and speed, and it is
already illegal to ride them on pavements, so we do not need more
rules. We need the police to enforce the ones we have; just as,
when it comes to more rules for cycling generally, the police
should be enforcing rules on drivers who speed or jump red
lights—we see this every day on the streets of London, and that
causes many more serious injuries and deaths to pedestrians and
cyclists on the road.
(Con)
I absolutely agree with the noble Lord, but of course these are
operational matters for the police. The police are operationally
independent. However, they respond to pressure from local
communities and the police and crime commissioner; therefore, I
encourage those people to ensure that the police are doing what I
am sure many would want in their local areas.
(Con)
My Lords, I am totally in awe of my noble friend and believe he should be
allowed to use an e-bike, as he does in Peckham. Does my noble
friend agree that e-scooters are a different thing entirely? They
overtake taxis, their riders never have helmets, they have no
registration numbers—they are an absolute menace. Can the
wretched things be got rid of, as they have been in Paris?
(Con)
This Government are not a great fan of banning things, but we do
need to think very carefully about e-scooters on our roads. As my
noble friend will know, it is illegal to ride a private e-scooter
on a public road—it has always been, and it remains, illegal.
When parliamentary time allows, we will bring in legislation for
micromobility which will cover private e-scooters, but it will
also provide a licensing framework for the rental micromobility
operations which are currently in trial across the country.
(Non-Afl)
My Lords, I have twice witnessed the same man riding up and down
Whitehall—of all places—backwards on a cycle. At first, I thought
it was a circus act, but then I saw him come the other way. Not
once have I seen a police officer even take any notice of him. I
cannot understand it, for the life of me. If we are accepting
this sort of behaviour, what chance has the average motorist? We
now have a full complement of police officers, and they really
should be doing their job.
(Con)
I do not really know how to respond to that. I was trying to
think whether riding backwards was somehow riding carelessly, and
it may well be, but, obviously, I did not see the gentleman. The
noble Lord is absolutely right: it is a question of enforcement
and the police should be encouraged to enforce our road laws
properly.
(Lab)
My Lords, while the legal speed limit for e-bikes is 25 kph, the
Minister will know that models which exceed that are widely
available, and many who ride them may not even know that they are
breaking the law. What assessment has the Minister made of the
levels of enforcement by the police of those models, and can she
share any data on these, including possible confiscation?
(Con)
Yes. The Government are extremely active in this area. As I said
previously, the DVSA has a market surveillance programme. Each
retailer must check that the EAPC is compatible with the
regulations. To date, five retailers have been prosecuted and
there have been fines and criminal convictions, while many other
investigations are ongoing. Such retailers are instructed to
recall and remedy any non-compliant products. There is a system
for catching these products. If there are products out there that
have an off-road capability, for example, where you can switch it
to more than 15.5 mph, we believe that those products do not
comply with the regulations and we would encourage the DVSA to
take appropriate enforcement action.
(Con)
My noble friend the Minister is right that this is a matter for
police enforcement, as other noble Lords have pointed out.
However, she knows as well as I do that not a single police force
in the country cares about this issue or is doing anything about
enforcement. Will she use the powers of her office to gather
every chief constable together for a conference and tell them to
enforce the law for the safety not just of the riders but of the
pedestrians who get mowed down on the pavement every day of the
week?
(Con)
The Department for Transport, the Home Office and the leaders of
police forces across the country speak frequently about road
safety. The messages about e-scooters and e-bikes are passed on,
as are wider issues around road safety. As I say, these are
operational decisions for the police; we must leave it to them to
make those decisions for themselves.
