More than 50 organisations have today called on the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to urgently set a date for e-scooter legislation.
Environmental charities, local authorities, disabled people’s organisations, micromobility operators and retailers have signed a joint letter to encourage the government to propel this legislation forward.
Rental e-scooters are currently only available through government trials in around 23 towns and cities around England – it is illegal to use private e-scooters on public roads.
The UK is the only developed nation without either permanently legal e-scooters or committed plans to legalise.
Signatories include the Campaign for Better Transport, Clean Cities Campaign, London Cycling Campaign, Major Trauma Group, Northamptonshire Police, Pure Electric, Southampton Sight, Sustrans, Thomas Pocklington Trust, Transport Action Network, Urban Transport Group and Women in Transport.
Local authorities include Essex County Council, Milton Keynes City Council, North Northamptonshire Council, Somerset Council, West Northamptonshire Council and West Yorkshire Combined Authority.
It is also signed by micromobility operators Voi, Beryl, Dott, Ginger, Lime, Superpedestrian, Tier and Zwings.
Richard Dilks, Chief Executive of Collaborative Mobility UK (CoMoUK), told Zag Daily: “We welcomed the fact that the Government has previously put such a commitment into the Queen’s Speech, but we deplore the fact that we still have not had legislation to create a new powered light vehicle class. This means the UK is now seriously lagging behind neighbouring and comparable countries.”
The letter has gone to the Cabinet Office, the Transport Secretary and Transport Minister.
A recent independent poll by Voi, which had 2,000 responses from people aged between 18-64, found that over 80% of the general public are supportive of new regulatory measures for e-scooters, while over 70% want them introduced before the next General Election, which is most likely to be held next year.
This comes as e-scooter manufacturer Taur launches a new campaign that reimburses any customer who is fined by police for riding its private e-scooters on UK roads.
