BBK lobbies Parliament for updated e-scooter legislation
Earlier this month I went to Parliament to urge MPs to bring in effective e-scooter legislation as soon as possible as part of Bolt Burdon Kemp’s campaign to protect people from the vehicles.
MPs from all transport-related All Party Parliament Groups (APPG) had gathered at the ‘future of transport’ event on 3rd February, including those for electric vehicles, cycling and walking.
Chris Curtis MP hosted the event, while MPs Richard Holden and Fabian Hamilton were on the panel. Others in the room included experts and leaders in the space of active travel, electric vehicles, self-driving vehicles and from the insurance industry.
Despite highlighting cases where BBK has represented people hit by e-scooters, and an appetite for better safety among those at the event, progress for legal change still appears to be agonisingly far from realisation.
The current picture is messy and confusing. Let me explain why…
What is the issue with e-scooter legislation?
In July 2020 the Department for Transport (DfT) authorised rental e-scooter trials to begin in England across 32 areas. These were introduced as part of emergency legislation during the first part of Covid 19 pandemic. But these trials have continued and have now been extended until 2026, creating a state of limbo for e-scooter legislation.
Whilst the trials mean e-scooters are seen on the streets of major cities and towns across England, privately owned e-scooters still remain illegal.
This has caused confusion and means many are unaware that riding privately owned e-scooters in public is against the law. At BBK we ran a campaign to provide education on the rules around e-scooters.
The inconsistency in the law unfortunately means there is no registration or regulation for e-scooters. During the event, Mr Curtis also highlighted that as the Department for Transport is running the trials, local authorities have very limited control over how the trials are being run in their cities.
When we represent clients who have a claim involving an e-scooter we have two options.
If the e-scooter was part of a rental scheme, we will write to both the rider and the insurer notifying them of any potential claim. If the e-scooter was privately owned and not insured, the claim will likely be brought against the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB). Having spoken to those at the MIB, they don’t consider this to be a sustainable position, given the unlike conventional motorists who pay for insurance, e-scooters riders do not contribute to the MIB fund.
What is the future of e-scooter legislation?
The MPs on the panel said there is limited time in the current parliamentary year, therefore no changes will be made during this parliamentary session.
However, Chris Curtis did say some MPs were discussing using the devolution bill to introduce the legislation. The idea would then be to give the power to local authorities to decide how they approach e-scooter use.
Although this is just an idea and not confirmed, we believe this would not resolve the challenges we face with e-scooters. It would create a postcode lottery on e-scooter use and create disparities between areas.
We also cannot see how this would then fix the registration issue nor the lack of ability to get insurance.
Devolving by area would also be incredibly hard to police. We already know there is a lack of understanding of the current legislation with many being unaware of what their rights are. Introducing regional rules would make this misunderstanding and confusion even worse.
Our call to the Government
During the meeting we made the case to MPs on the panel for the need for effective e-scooter legislation.
Before the last election, we wrote a Manifesto for Injured People which included specific policies we believe are needed to protect people against the risk of negligent e-scooter
We will continue to work with our partners and politicians to stress the need for action.
If you have been in an accident involving an e-scooter you can contact one of our team of expert solicitors on 020 3733 1044 or contact us online.
