Why illegal electric scooters are here to stay in the UK 

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'stop being environmentally friendly in a way we cant tax you'

Light EV's are literally the solution we've been dreaming of for car replacement, and now that they're finally a viable technology, they try to prevent it rather than encourage and improve it.

250W electric motors are perfectly legal for bicycles, but not for push scooters, this isn't just unfair, it is detached from both REALITY AND COMMON SENSE

I ride mine to work everyday and it takes me less then 10 mins. Previously it would take me 25mins to get the bus as I'd have a 10 min walk to the bus stop then the bus would stop 5 or 6 times on the way, plus it was £2.50 each way. Best thing I have ever bought.

owning an escooter made my life so much easier, electricity is included in the rent so it's 100% free transportation anywhere i want as it has a 60 km range and most stores etc agree to let you take it inside i have not once needed to lock it down and never will

As the guy with the Nike Air top near the end of the vid says, it's also older people. I'm 68, and had my first (and only) experience when I hired one for the day on a trip to Valencia in Sept. Took minutes to feel comfortable and then had way more fun than someone my age should be entitled to. Wanted to get one when I got home, but the laws put me off. I've just retired to Spain and I'll be using one for exploring the region once the weather improves (it's unusually cold atm). I live in a small town south of Valencia and public transport is practically non existant. An e-scooter will be an invaluable addition to my quality of life, with none of the legality problems of the UK.

It's wild to me that these are illegal in the UK. Love riding my Onewheel in DC and scooters are everywhere here.

The law is an ass when it comes to electric vehicles, they want us out of our cars , socially distanced and not burning fossil fuels, while criminalising anyone who uses an electric alternative. I have a Chinese electric kids dirt bike (yeah, I'm small for 50!), it has hydraulic disc brakes, I've added lights front and back, including brake light, utilising a 12v DC converter. I've also added indicators, with running lights, a horn, wing mirrors, electric key-lock with volt-meter, plus upgraded the controller and battery and I love it. I take my son to school on it (well when not in lock-down!), we also go down the local park as well as the beach. No petrol, no fumes, no oil, no noise and no acid as it's Lithium-Ion, so what's the problem? Come on UK, sort your life out and get with the electric 21st century!

I work shifts as a porter for the nhs and i used to ride my bike to work, i'd get to work sweaty and then have to walk miles and miles on my shift. One day i finished at 10 on the night and my bike had been stolen. After this i bought an e scooter and never looked back my route hasnt changed its just like riding a bike except i dont get knackered on the hills and i can store it in the locker rooms under a bench so i dont have to worry about it being stolen. A few of my college's have bought scooters now where previously they spend loads on taxis. They are the future of transport and during this pandemic has been my lifeline of getting to work and back with my crazy shift patterns. But i still worry about being penalised for riding one as to me its no more dangerous than riding a bike.

Government: makes car transportation expensive af People: Buy scooters that don't require any of those slavery taxes Government:

Where I live there's old pensioners using them to zip about. E-Scooters aren't just for the young youth culture. They are for everyone! It's a leveller. When I am out on mine other electroheads nod or wave or stop to chat. Including the Old People on them.

I'm from the Philippines. Pre-COVID, my daily commute averages at around a 5-hour round-trip. Then the Pandemic hit, and I needed to buy one to enforce Social Distancing. Now from home to office and back, 2 hours is a leisurely ride.

Reminds me of the way the uk deal with cannabis, we love it and some actually need it, but the people who don’t need it or care for it make it a problem!

The future of E-scooters is connected to the importance of segregated cycling infra.

How come in the UK we're allways last to embrace new technologies! If some people had their way we'd still be in the Stone age. Just keep them of the pavements hey.

Honestly this video is too true, even e bikes bang it gets me everywhere especially with people who have lost their jobs or have low income it helps a lot to go

In my opinion this demonization has nothing to do with the electric scooters becoming a real mobility alternative, nor the safety for users and pedestrians resultant of its usage. As most of the times, this is a matter of money. You stop paying public transport, the taxes from fuel, insurance, etc. while on the other hand you demand a new infrastructure. An imbalance to the public accounts they don't know how to revert.

In the past month I've noticed electric scooter rides riding past police vans without any retribution. I'm a daily car driver and occasional cyclist but seriously thinking about an electric scooter for the summer, especially as my workplace is 5 minutes away. E-scooter insurance via cycleplan is cheap too, £30-£100 annually.

I live in Scotland only one bus per hour Monday till Friday no bus Saturday or Sunday looks like I could have fun again even at my age of 69 yr

I live in surrey and recently I was riding my electric scooter and was pulled over by the police and told that I could have received three points on my provisional for driving without insurance

I've been riding my scooter about for a year and half (I'm in Newham as well, as it goes) and I've only been stopped by the Old Bill once. And that was because he wanted to know how far they went between charges and how much they cost because he wanted to buy one. I think that as long as you're not tearing around like a div, they won't waste their time.

Getting my scooter in a couple of days seems so much more convenient than public transport

Some many young people using them! Ffs, out of all my modes of transport i own! i adore my lecky scooter at 65 and looking to upgrade all the time! Even before ime outta the sack in the morning ime looking forward to jumping on to nip up to the paper shop! Hearing people trying to make excuses up ie. bringing covid into the equation! "why" !

I can see the advantages and the problems. But all of the problems can be dealt with to allow legalising these as a viable means of getting around.

I use mine to go around all the time so much more convenient to get around

THEY SHOULD LEGALIZE ELECTRIC SCOOTERS ASAP, TO BE HONEST ITS ALL ABOUT GOVERMENT REVENUE

Just paid £190 to get mine out the police compound 🤬🤬🤬 yesterday

Very insightful video, almost feels like a full-on news report.

Been riding my xiaomi m365 pro for about 18 months now in the city to go college and back and out in the countryside for groceries to my local town. Ive saved thousands of euros on transport. Only stopped 1 time but no issues. Very highly recommended for college students to save a lot of money EDIT: Ive got about 6k kilometers ridden

You had me at 'landed gentry' 😂 I'm imagining Prince Charles doing zoomies around Buckingham Palace.

In Romania the government legalized their use about a year ago. You need to use bicycle tracks, were you don't have them, you can ride on the road side (in areas were the maximum allowed speed is 50 KM) and the scooter's speed must be limited to 25 KM.

Great video, What I can say from my perspective that the electric scooters are future and should be legalised a long time ago, I use my scooter every day, Traveling to and from work and I do ride almost everywhere, Safest and fastest way nowadays to travel around the city not to mention the pure fun and joy of riding one in sunny day.

I recently bought one. My office is looking for us to start returning to the office in the coming months and my options are a crowded train, my car, or potentially a quicker, free, and environmentally friendly e-scooter. It’s a no brainer. There’s even a wide canal path that takes me 80% of the way there. So regardless of what the government says, I’ll be scooting to work.

Literally the only concern I'd have with an electric scooter is how the smaller wheels would perform on poorly surfaced/ pot holed roads. Will stick with my bicycle (and sometimes car for longer journeys), but I 100% agree that they should be made road legal, preferably in the same/ similar category as bicycles. :)

The issue is, people using them on pavements at high speeds, theres always these idiots who do that.

I think the problem with electric scooters (for a more mature gentleman like me) is the number of electric scooters used on the pavement. A virtually silent vehicle passing you at 10+ mph is a bit scary sometimes.

I have an escooter for about 5 years in London, but since last year noticed that there are many new riders who don't bother to turn the lights on, they are bloody invisible on the roads waiting for the accident to happen.

high quality video well presented! thank you. 👍

Got one for commuting, its really great how easy you get through town. Ride my bike most days, but if im really tired or sore, I'll use it and love it!

Very handy, but i sold mine because i just had strange aches and pains in my knees after a while. The vibration also gave me pins and needles

If theyre registered it should be ok and max speed of 25mph.... but they also need lights and indicators to be on the road....

Regarding adaptation, I'd like to see some three-wheeled e-scooters, where the two back wheels house a shopping/delivery basket, with a kind of swivel hinge on the back to keep that basket steady and level.

BRILLIANT, it’s not just the YOUTH I am 61 had a THUNDER for 2 years and absolutely love it, I bought a seat costing £250 never put it on never want to, if would spoil my fun, I don’t ride on pavements and I am all leathered up. Keep up the good work.

These things are brilliant. We got a Xoami Pro. The build quality is excellent and the in built safety features are also excellent. Onboard lights, disk brakes, safety cut out, speedo, speed limited. Way safer than a pushbike all ways round.

I started working at Asda when lockdown hit in England and I do a morning shift starting at 2am which is essentially night time, no one is around especially since it's so dark, riding it to work is so useful and practical, saves me like 20 minutes from walking there, and saves my legs extra work. I can't drive annoyingly cause I was taking lessons before lockdown took effect and essentially life shut down. This was one of my best investments. The funniest thing though is the police in my area don't even care, they have seen me on it around 7 times by my count now and not once have I been told to stop or been fined etc. It's mostly a horror story that no law enforcement enforces. People are prats for trying to enforce it really. I understand the need for correct etiquette though, absolutely drive it where it's safe, avoid Peds where possible, treat it like a bicycle really. English people shouldn't worry about the police too much they have more important things to worry about. (Again in my experience)

A very balanced and well produced video.

In Bristol the only issue i find with the e scooter is the ridings lack of understanding of rules of the road. From red light ,1 ways road , junction and roundabout

Haha you fools, illegal for private ownership but it’s ok for scooter rental. Is the light

My partner got one at the start of the pandemic, unfortunately her own error she was riding on the road and got a watery eye from the cold air she misjudged the height of the kurb and clipped it breaking her leg, so I used it for 3 months whilst she was recovering and to be honest it was so handy to have even just to pop to local shops etc, I only use it on the pavement because I personally don't trust drivers in cars or other vehicles they're often far worse and more dangerous than a smaller portion of people on scooters. I simply try to be courteous to pedestrians and thankfully I've not had an accident yet, I'll also say this if a bike is about to crash it's much harder to dismount hence more dangerous than a scooter is. On one occasion I was coming around a corner at the slowest speed maybe 4kmh because it was a tight turn and a lady stepped around the corner st the same time, luckily because it was a scooter I was able to jump off stopping the scooter immediately and avoided hitting her or hurting myself.

Long time electric unicycle rider but mine broke just as lock down began. My new one is arriving from PET on Tuesday and your film has reminded just how much fun and freedom it is going to bring. Thank you

great video - thanks for this!

My Escooter is super useful to me when shopping and super good to store in the house, I even used it today. Also is that the Google voice?! Lol.

Very well put together video non bias. Keep up the quality content 👏

The trial scheme has shown in my area has shown that many can't be trusted, blasting around pavements and riding them were they shouldn't. I like them but people don't use them responsibly

How the young boy rides with confidence despite the illegality of E scooters , I use mine for short trips, it has light I always wear a helmet and got my provisional licence and took out Liability insurance and I never go above 20mph. I have not as yet been stopped but I have passed police cars and my heart does race for fear of getting pulled. But I think because I ride responsibly they don’t seem bothered actually, maybe I got lucky or maybe it’s not worth their time, who knows but I hate having to look over my shoulder all the time

I really like this scooters is going to be useful for youths in the future 🤩👍

8:16 a knob followed by a g

I made use of the rentals in Frankfurt and Hamburg, giving me a much better experience and getting around a town I do not live in or know my way around, having the flexibility of a personal transport without the clumsiness of my car.

They were illegal in NYC until like August 2nd 2020 but I’ve seen a few well before that. But top speed has to be 20mph and no more to be considered an e scooter and falling in line with the law.

I could see the Tories cracking down on this soon. All it takes is some old people and Karens to complain and there could be a crackdown overnight.

If e-scooters are made legal, but insurance, road-only riding and helmet wearing are compulsory, will they be so popular? Bicycles have been around for more than 150 years yet the UK's cycle infrastructure is poor. Can we safely add e-scooters onto our roads? We cannot ignore e-scooter popularity, but neither can we ignore the need for road (and pavement/footpath) safety.

Nice video. Can't wait to get legalised. My Zero10X will be getting many more miles soon hopefully!

"Legislation, infrastructure AND a proper/ongoing awareness/safety campaign - "Speed bumps means SLOW DOWN", "No helmet? NO WAY!" "Others use the bike lane/road too" and so on. Superb report - well done and thank you.

@Electroheads I have the UK's first fully *Road Legal E-Scooter* and have knowledge on how all E-Scooters can be legalised. I also have an understanding of why they are not legal in the UK, there are two main reasons and *No* one of the reasons is not down to a law from the 1800's. It would be straight forward to implement legal E-Scooters, of course parts of this implementation would be unpopular but necessary. E-scooters are a win for the government and a win for people of the UK, other Micro-mobility devices could also be addressed, but the E-Scooter is perfectly positioned to lead the permanent change for urban mobility.

Eh!.......the speed limit of an electric bike is 15.5mph, on a public road. These can't be legally ridden on a road + pavements are for pedestrians.....Crack down coming.

100% agree with this! Make them legal. If they have to be limited to a certain speed and/or wattage fair enough. I would happily pay to actually insure mine for use on the road but I am unable to. Nobody will insure them. The law needs updating!

In some US e-bikes up to 750w motor are legal while UK still sits behind with measily 250w which lacks in power a lot...

Legalise it and make infrastructure would be brilliant , same for ebikes etc, reason it's not being done is simply money, once the government figure out a way to get money from you whilst you ride it they will legalise it. I build and ride ebikes up I Yorkshire and I build and fly rc planes etc, been doing both for many years never hurt anyone but now that lots of people do "drone flying " the Gov suddenly monetise it with rules regs and licences etc. They would tax our feet if they could.

I enjoyed this video. It's really depressing when I go out to work on my escooter and I have to watch my 6 or side roads incase police are coming, where as I can ride at 40mph on my road bike by pedalling and it's fully legal .. crazy.

The BIG issue is safe use. I drive a large commercial vehicle daily in London. Some scooter riders are copying the worst behaviour of bad cyclists: riding at night dressed head to toe in black with no lights, and making up their own “Highway Code”. If you undertake a conventional vehicle at night with no HiVis or lights, you are completely invisible to a driver when he checks his mirrors. I’ve had it happen to me, and I’ve been passed on the inside in a very narrow lane, with the scooter rider squeezing between steel road side barriers and my Luton.This behaviour will get you killed or injured. Any driving instructor will tell you there is so much more to learn about using the roads once you’ve passed a Driving Test, yet these scooters (and cycles) are being used by completely inexperienced people with no hazard awareness training.

I've seen something on the goverment website about a 12month ban lift ( from June 2020) on e scooters because of the covid situation related to transportation.

Wow! I can see why contraception has failed over the years, judging by the way most people in this interview wear their masks incorrectly.......

The government needs to adapt to society. Until then ignore this "law". Theres many laws still on the books about horses in the city....

I work in a very large housing complex and I use a scooter to do inspections instead of a vehicle, my productivity rate went through the roof.

Is there any known private areas allowing the use of escooters? Like a private field, track, or park? We're always told where we cant ride them, but never where we can.

Very simply it’s the uncoordinated being jealous that they have to walk everywhere. “If i can’t do it, then no one can”.

The biggest problem in UK is the lobby of Transport of London and Cab drivers...they lobby Gov not to pass the law. Its all about money not about health or care for public. I was ridding to work for the past 4 years ...yet Police finally stopped me and give me fine ...next time they said they will confiscate my scooter and ( £400 fine ) 6points on my licence. PO said to me they are not legal cos they are not safe ...well 4y of ridding and i don’t think they are different to any other bicycle. People who say they are dangerous are like people 100y ago who said cars will kill all the people.

6:44 - Amen Bro

What is the difference between me kick pushing my non electric scooter at 15 mph or 25 mph downhill Vs a 15 mph electric scooter or an e bike doing 15 plus mph or a lycra clad racing bike doing 30 mph ..e scooters are fine as long as they are ridden responsibly helmet etc ....

Great episode and completely agree. It’s been a half arsed approach by the government. From someone who rides ESK8 and my wife has a e scooter it’s madness we are not embracing this mode of transport

PEVs are certainly the future!

Awesome video!!

I'm actually a bit jealous, would love to get one, but I'm 61 and would feel a bit odd riding one at my age, though I'm still quite fit. HUGE potential here for business too. I can see perhaps postal workers using them on estates and delivering letters and small parcels after parking up their vans, NHS workers to get around hospitals with medical supplies. Using them to explore beauty spots and coastal areas, seaside getting around the beach and parks, all looks quite exciting to me. How much for a decent on? Where can I get one for the summer? Would really love one, I envy you youngsters sometimes.

What I found most interesting: not ONE single person riding a scooter in this video was wearing a helmet. Simple legislation such as compulsory wearing of helmets and maximum speed limits for scooters would go a long way towards legislation.

I got a Chaos 1600W Hub Drive and it is sick! Just ride off from feds they cannot hit you off lmfao

I actually fancied getting one quite soon, but I didn't realise I would only be legally allowed to go around my living room on it or maybe my garden.

On a note related to Escooters and Ebikes. Did you know if you take your pedals off your electric bike it is defined by law as then being an unregistered motorcycle/moped, why? simply because the law states that an electric bike must have pedals that are capable of propelling it as its main form of propulsion or pedal assist to be exact, and by removing the pedals it no longer is a pedal assist which under the law makes it illegal to ride on the road. Odd really isn't it, you could leave home on an ebike the pedal falls off and you no longer have the legal right to ride that bicycle home to repair it, or ride it to a shop to get it repaired it has to be pushed, and under the law, when pushing a moped or motorcycle you must by law adhere to all road signs and traffic lights. Oh and technically under the law you couldn't even push it home or to a shop as you would have no insurance for it, technically you could get done for having a motor vehicle on the road with no insurance by pushing it along the road. That is the law, so when Escooter riders get done for no insurance, technically anyone with an Ebike that has a pedal that falls off could get done for exactly the same things, no license no insurance, no MOT and so on the law does not provide for such events as pedals falling off. Rather daft isn't it! This used to happen to moped riders back when sport mopeds were very popular in the UK, because the pedals were tucked away they often got bent so became unusable and riders got fined for riding a motorcycle rather than a moped with faulty pedals, or some people would put foot rests on and remove the pedals to make the bike look better, but they could end up with heavy fines for doing such things and some did get fined.

The fact that these are illegal to ride in public is actually pathetic. Makes no sense at all. The UK sucks!

I was the first e scooter in London 6/7 years ago !! .... 4 years alone riding all over London !!! Being looked at, like I just landed from Mars .....hahaha .... now I am in a Bee's Nest !!! lol

whats the scooter hes using

I don't know why they can't just specify a max speed of 15 or 20 mph and treat them like an e-bike (The Halfords ones have a top speed of 15) and make sure they have two working brakes instead of just a crappy back foot on metal plate on the tyre job. I agree that putting any old LittleHarry15 style person who doesn't respect the rules of the road on a 40 mph machine would be a bit of a disaster. Personally I prefer a bicycle for the handling and pothole/drain cover safety and don't have to stand in an uncomfortable stance the whole way. I only use a car if I'm taking others/lots of stuff or it's a really long way or bad weather. What is a strange law although I doubt it will ever be enforced is that standard unpowered kick scooters technically aren't allowed to be used on cycle paths. Trying to take a Razor A5 Lux round a Hereford roundabout was a terrible idea. Personally I almost ran into an e-scooter user on my bicycle on the wrong side of a shared use path but that's another issue altogether not related to the scooter. I do remember trying to build an e-scooter when I was a kid, with a starter motor and battery and wooden wheels haha it was terrible. I ended up building a crappy flinstones (except wood) go-kart instead with broom handle axles, a starter motor with a timing belt, going to two wooden discs with nails acting as teeth. It had lots of friction that snapped the back axle and then the motor burned out. I then built some 5 wheel kart that had the same issue. I also had this blue scooter with a saddle (looked like a tiny moped) and got stopped by the police once with 2 car batteries on it boosting the range over the 240 watt hour battery.

Best thing I brought in a while

*100% put on your tunes and vibe to your music as you ride, portable dance floor!* 😂 👌🏼👌🏼

Used it since ES2 were a new thing. Positive aspects (with acceptance from the law system): expenditure of the area of "local shopping"; living 30-40 min walk from the station is not a problem any more; hence increase of opportunities for development; much less single driver cars on the roads; less people on public transport = those who really need it will feel more comfortable; less pollution; more opportunities for businesses (you do explore more on one); in pandemic times it feels much safer (of course there are bicycles, but there also are a lot of hills and thieves in London). Negative aspects (with acceptance from the law system): more less responsible people riding; actioning on riding on the pavements will have to be made by police(more work for the force); accidents will happen (they always do, but with proper guidance that will get controlled soon); I'm sorry but I cannot include in the negative aspects fact that drivers will have to learn how to pay attention or how some people will get scared when somebody riding next to them, or that kids will get in to accidents, I can't - it is parents responsibility to train the kid, or that roads will get filled with "those things" isn't it what will make roads less used by cars what seems to be ultimate goal of the governing bodies. All in all, better quality of life for people, more business opportunities, less pollution. Please make it road legal already.

what scooter is that at 3:15?

Come on Boris legalise them 😄👍

Need lovely 😍💋 💝💖❤️

Excellent video.

as a white person that lives in oxfordshire / MK area id rather have a Sur Ron lightweight electric motorbike or similar, those scooter things seem kinda useless for going more than 10 miles on heavily potholed roads that can be wet ( deep puddles ), icy, snowy etc, or going offroad on byways or fields. I'm supporting these scooter things though.