The menace of e-scooters needs to be brought under control through proper legislation - Andrew Vine

A lot of us have similar tales to tell, particularly older people or those with mobility problems for whom the risk of being hit by somebody speeding along the pavement at 15 mph or more is especially high because they may struggle to get out of the way.

E-scooters are a menace and far too little is being done to regulate their sale or bring riders to book.

Their widespread use is one of the most brazen examples of law-breaking in Britain, right up there with shoplifting. E-scooters cannot be ridden legally outside private land, unless they are part of a licensed hire scheme.

But just as the law has failed to catch up with the dangers to vulnerable young people from social media, so it has barely stirred on the hazards posed by scooters which seem to multiply on the pavements with every passing month.

Tomorrow, that may hopefully start to change with a debate in Westminster Hall instigated by the veteran Labour MP for Huddersfield, Barry Sheerman, who has a long and honourable record of campaigning on road safety issues.

His debate on e-scooter deaths and serious injuries is one that ministers – and those aspiring to serve in a Labour government – ought to be paying close attention to, because officialdom is doing next to nothing while people are dying or having their lives blighted.

Last year, a 14-year-old boy from Nottinghamshire was sentenced over the death of a woman he collided with on a pavement/ A tragedy such as that should have been a wake-up call for the Government.

It isn’t just pedestrians being hit by scooters who are suffering. So are the riders, who either can’t handle them or are simply reckless.

In many cases, those using the scooters are obviously up to no good. I can’t be alone in noticing virtually all the riders going as fast as they can along pavements wearing a scarf covering their face, the only conceivable purpose of which is to avoid identification.

Police officers I know are already familiar with drug dealers using scooters, preferring them to cars or motorbikes because they are small enough for the riders to avoid pursuit and arrest by getting away along narrow alleys or walkways.

A couple have also told me they are wary of chasing scooters in patrol cars, because they fear the riders will have an accident.

Police have the powers to seize e-scooters, and do, but there are now so many of them that effective enforcement of the prohibition on their use is impossible given the pressure that forces are under.

And a whole underground industry has sprung up on the internet to render these things even more dangerous than they are already.

A cursory search almost immediately turns up online tutorials on how to disable speed-limiting technology on scooters sold by reputable outlets. It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this when e-scooters first came onto the market.

The vision was for an environmentally-friendly way of getting around, just as it is with the scooters for hire in cities such as York, where visitors using them toddle along taking in the sights at a stately pace without being a danger to themselves or anybody else.

Maybe inevitably, those good intentions have quickly fallen by the wayside, helped along by irresponsible parents who have bought their teenagers a shiny new toy without sparing a thought for what they might be getting up to.

They aren’t like electric bikes, which appeal to responsible cyclists who just want a bit of help up hills. Overwhelmingly, they wear safety helmets and stick to the roads where they belong, not pavements. Cycling is mainstream, part of our way of life.

Scooters aren’t. There’s a subculture around them that is disreputable. It’s there in the masked faces, the lack of regard for pedestrians and the riders who are whizzing around without lights after dark.

How many more deaths and injuries must be suffered before ministers do something about what is becoming one of our worst road and pedestrian safety problems?

There is a solution. Ban sales of e-scooters until a proper debate on their use takes place, including the possibility of registration and insurance.