Cycle routes “painted on our pavements” blamed as campaigner calls for crackdown on “30mph” illegal e-bikes “before someone is killed”

A campaigner calling for the police and local authorities to crack down on the use of illegally modified electric bikes – which she says could lead to “someone being killed” – has argued that the problems surrounding the “dangerous” machines aren’t helped by the presence of shared-use paths or “cycle routes painted on our pavements”.

In a public plea to local Labour MP Gill Furniss, Sheffield resident Esther Carr said the use of “dangerously fast” illegal e-bikes and e-scooters has become a growing concern in the city centre, as well as in Southey and Hillsborough, where she claims she’s on the receiving end of near misses involving e-bikes “several times” a week.

According to Carr, Sheffield is now “full of these dangerous fast bikes which are essentially very quiet motorbikes but are driven on our paths rather than roads”.

As noted by the campaigner, who first raised the issue with Furniss two years ago, the e-bikes Carr is referring to are not conventional electrically assisted pedal cycles (EAPCs) – which are permitted under UK law to be used on public roads – but modified machines that exceed the maximum 250 watts and 15.5mph cut-off speed of their legal counterparts.

These modified bikes, unlike regular e-bikes, are classified as e-motorbikes and therefore require full registration, insurance, tax, and licence to use them.

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“E-bikes and e-scooters remain a big problem – several times this week I have narrowly missed being hit by a bike, just on the 10-minute walk between my house and Morrisons,” Carr wrote in her email to the MP, reports the Sheffield Star.

“It’s similar on most of the streets but it is quite frightening at times. I fear that someone will be killed by a bike, often going at high speeds on the pavement, after dark is especially bad, before anyone will agree to do something about this.

“I know the police did confiscate some e-scooters and e-bikes recently, but it must have been the tip of the iceberg, because they are everywhere.”

However, in her email, Carr also links the ubiquitous presence of illegal e-bike riders with the city’s shared-use cycling and walking infrastructure, which she argues puts pedestrians in danger by forcing them to use the same space as people riding “dangerously fast” electric bikes.

“It doesn’t help that we have cycle routes actually painted on our pavements,” she said. “Even though it doesn’t seem to matter to the fools who are going 30mph on the pavement.”

BBC Panorama - two on an e-bike (credit: road.cc)

Responding to Carr’s concerns, Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough MP Furniss said: “I have been in contact with the police and council to raise these matters. I will continue to liaise with these agencies to press for safety for pedestrians on our pavements.”

According to South Yorkshire Police, officers in Sheffield city centre seized “at least” 50 e-bikes and five illegal scooters during an operation in December designed to clamp down on the “potentially dangerous machines”.

“Electric bikes being ridden illegally or dangerously can cause serious injury to both the rider and pedestrians. If you are stopped on what we believe to be an illegal e-bike, we will explain and encourage you to follow the law,” a South Yorkshire Police spokesperson said.

“As well as seizing them, the rider, or parents of riders if they are under the age of 16, could be prosecuted and subjected to a fine.

“If you see an electric bike being ridden illegally or dangerously, please report it to us with as much information as possible so we can take action.

“This includes times, locations, descriptions of the bike and the rider, as well as details of any clothing or helmet the rider is wearing.”

> “E-bikes are not illegal”: BBC hit with more complaints about “misleading and damaging” Panorama e-bike episode, as cycle shop owner says: “Finding a wolf in sheep’s clothing should not be a reason to attack sheep”

Carr’s link between illegally modified e-bikes and shared-use cycling infrastructure comes just two months after a BBC Panorama programme on e-bikes, fronted by Adrian Chiles, was roundly condemned for conflating the criminality, dangerous riding, and battery fires associated with illegally modified two-wheeled electric vehicles with cyclists riding legal e-bikes.

During the programme, titled ‘E-Bikes: The Battle For Our Streets’, the former One Show host asked whether electric bikes are “a new menace in need of tighter regulation”. However, Chiles’ failure to consistently and fully distinguish between legal and illegal e-bikes proved controversial and provoked some strong criticism from cycling campaigners and bike industry groups.

BBC Panorama - Adrian Chiles looking at e-bikes (credit: road.cc)

“Panorama confuses legal with illegally modified e-bikes and ignores their benefits compared to the UK’s car use,” the London Cycling Campaign said in response to the episode.

The Bicycle Association (BA), the trade organisation representing 140 cycling companies in the UK, and the Association of Cycle Traders both lodged formal complaints with the BBC concerning Panorama’s coverage of e-bikes, arguing it “unjustifiably damaged” the electric bike sector, a claim the BBC denied.

Jonathan Harrison, the director of the Association for Cycle Traders, criticised the “division” the episode “tried to sow” and asked: “Does the hysteria match the actual harm caused?”

Meanwhile, in his own complaint to the broadcaster, Ray Wookey, the owner of Energise E-Bikes in the south London town of Coulsdon, branded the programme “troubling” and “misleading”, with the potential to “unfairly influence public opinion and undermine the efforts of responsible retailers who prioritise safety, respectful riding, and adherence to the law”.

Wookey noted that while focusing on road safety issues – such as the relationship between e-bike riders and pedestrians voiced by Carr – is important, it “should not involve the misrepresentation of an important and fast-growing sector” capable of promoting a safe, healthy, and environmentally-friendly form of transport.