E-scooters: Police officers 'turning a blind eye' to scooters on pavements, claims councillor

Lib Dem East Riding councillor Viv Padden is concerned officers are “turning a blind eye” to the increasing use of e-scooters on pavements, putting pedestrians at risk.

E-scooters, which have been promoted as an affordable, greener form of transport, are legal to ride only on private land, with the landowner’s permission.

Coun Padden first raised the issue at October's Safer and Stronger Communities Sub-Committee after his wife had a close shave with someone on an e-scooter. Afterwards he was contacted by a woman from Hull, who was seriously injured when an e-scooter ran into her when she was cycling to work in August. She told him she had suffered three fractures to her head, and had been unable to work since.

The committee was told the force didn’t want to take a heavy-handed approach with the many youngsters who use them. Inspector Tony Tinsley said it would “probably seem harsh for us to come and take little Johnny's e-scooter off him because he was riding down a footpath”.

In a motion to full council on Wednesday, Coun Padden is asking for Chief Constable Lee Freeman to attend the sub-committee to provide assurances. Coun Padden said: “The woman who contacted me couldn't remember anything else until she saw the CCTV footage which was obtained from the building next door. She suffered three fractures – if anyone talks to her, she has to turn her body to make eye contact, she is nauseous and she has lost her sense of smell.”

Safer Roads Humber (SRH) doesn’t keep specific statistics on accidents involving e-scooters, as they are grouped with mobility scooters and skateboards. In that group in East Yorkshire, around 25 people a year get injured – while one cyclist on average gets killed and over 100 others are injured.

SRH marketing manager Ruth Gore said e-scooters were a nuisance “but not our top priority”.

However, she added: “If you are tempted to buy one for Christmas, don’t. You are wasting your money, particularly coming up to Black Friday. You can’t use them legally on the roads and pavements.

“The approach the police have been taking is that they have been doing education, talking to people. If someone is using one in an anti-social manner, they will seize it.

"We haven't had a lot of instances of injuries – they tend to be people wobbling and coming off their e-scooter.”

Ms Gore said legislation governing e-scooters’ use had been delayed partly due to the rapid turnover in Government ministers and it could now take another couple of years.

Trials involving e-scooters for hire – including in Scunthorpe – have been extended.

Humberside Police said they didn’t want to “criminalise people, especially young people, unnecessarily”.

In a a statement, the force said: “We will, however, continue to tackle and deal with those robustly that ride dangerously or through their actions put others at risk.”