Pure Electric Scooter - no response from vendor

Okell

cryan846 said:

... It is used for my son to commute to and from work - were I live they are using scooters by the local council.. It gets used only for commuting. He is an adult and the scooter hasn't been abused...

Your local council will be running a legally authorised hire scheme in conjunction with an e-scooter provider.  (eg E-scooter trial in Norwich extended to May 2024 - Norfolk County Council )

Only scooters hired under that scheme can legally be used on public roads.  

Privately owned e-scooters can only legally be used on private land.  Using them in public potentially raises issues about insurance and other criminal offences

MacPingu1986

cryan846 said:

Thank you for all the comments. It is used for my son to commute to and from work - were I live they are using scooters by the local council.. It gets used only for commuting. He is an adult and the scooter hasn't been abused. There is very little options of public transport for the shift times he works. 
I've sent multiple emails to the email address. An email acknowledgement would have been sent but my email got hacked and so I cleared it out maybe hastily and don't access it anymore.

OP - A private e-scooter being used on public roads is simply an illegal, unplated, unregistered, uninsured motorcycle.

If your son is caught by the police riding it he could easily be fined and points added to his license for all sorts of offenses. By far the best approach going forwards is for your son to use a bike or e-bike.

Unfortunately plenty of these private e-scooter companies operate knowing you have limited come-back in the event that it breaks being used illegally. All you can do is assertively contact them again and hope they engage.

Aylesbury_Duck

cryan846 said:

Thank you for all the comments. It is used for my son to commute to and from work - were I live they are using scooters by the local council.. It gets used only for commuting. He is an adult and the scooter hasn't been abused. There is very little options of public transport for the shift times he works. 
I've sent multiple emails to the email address. An email acknowledgement would have been sent but my email got hacked and so I cleared it out maybe hastily and don't access it anymore.

That will be one of the various licenced, lawful trials.  It doesn't mean privately-owned scooters are lawful on public land in the same town/district/county.  I suggest he gets a bike, because there is a slim chance a scooter would be confiscated if the police stopped him.

cryan846

Thanks to all who commented. Very happy to report I got a call from the supplier today and are sending out a new scooter due to the photo evidence I sent to show the handlebar had snapped. 

Okell

Well that's good news from the consumer rights point of view, but is your son now aware that he can only legally use his privately owned e-scooter on private land?  

If he's using it to commute to work on public roads (or using it on pavements, or in other public areas) he is committing a criminal offence.  He can get points on his driving licence, he can get disqualified, he can be prosecuted for having no motor insurance, and God forbid he gets involved in an accident and injures another road user or pedestrian when not insured.

The fact that your local council is participating in a trial of e-scooters that are for hire does not make his use of a private e-scooter in public legal.

Powered transporters - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

E-scooter trials: guidance for users - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

LightFlare

Okell said:

Well that's good news from the consumer rights point of view, but is your son now aware that he can only legally use his privately owned e-scooter on private land?  

If he's using it to commute to work on public roads (or using it on pavements, or in other public areas) he is committing a criminal offence.  He can get points on his driving licence, he can get disqualified, he can be prosecuted for having no motor insurance, and God forbid he gets involved in an accident and injures another road user or pedestrian when not insured.

The fact that your local council is participating in a trial of e-scooters that are for hire does not make his use of a private e-scooter in public legal.

Powered transporters - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

E-scooter trials: guidance for users - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

A good % of the ones in the trial in my city I would guess are being ridden illegally as well

Damn things are a menace

Aylesbury_Duck

LightFlare said:

Okell said:

Well that's good news from the consumer rights point of view, but is your son now aware that he can only legally use his privately owned e-scooter on private land?  

If he's using it to commute to work on public roads (or using it on pavements, or in other public areas) he is committing a criminal offence.  He can get points on his driving licence, he can get disqualified, he can be prosecuted for having no motor insurance, and God forbid he gets involved in an accident and injures another road user or pedestrian when not insured.

The fact that your local council is participating in a trial of e-scooters that are for hire does not make his use of a private e-scooter in public legal.

Powered transporters - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

E-scooter trials: guidance for users - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

A good % of the ones in the trial in my city I would guess are being ridden illegally as well

Damn things are a menace

No more so than any other form of personal transport, and there are very many more cars about than there are scooters.  I'd take 10x the number of scooters about if it made a decent dent in those using cars.

LightFlare

Problem is with the scooters they don’t stick to the roads and I would have a good guess that most of the riders don’t meet driving licence requirements 

As a pedestrian in the city, I am at significantly higher risk of being hit by a scooter on the pavement than a car

born_again

With the trials, rider is supposed to have a driving licence.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/e-scooter-trials-guidance-for-users

LightFlare

born_again said:

With the trials, rider is supposed to have a driving licence.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/e-scooter-trials-guidance-for-users

“Supposed” being the appropriate phrase

They are also “supposed” to only be ridden on the road. 

I dont have an issue with the concept - purely with the implementation and policing