Lime bikes may be removed from borough over safety

Lime e-bikes will be removed from a north-west London borough within months unless the company addresses safety concerns, a council has warned.

Brent Council said the dockless e-bikes were increasingly "inconsiderately parked and abandoned", causing "havoc" for disabled people and pedestrians.

It added that the company needed to introduce dedicated e-bike parking bays.

Lime said it understood the "critical importance of maintaining a safe service" and that it was committed to working with the council to deliver "the required improvements".

A spokesperson for Lime added the council needed to install parking locations but it could provide funding.

The council said it had notified Lime, which has been operating in the borough since 2019, that it must remove its e-bikes from the borough by 31 October if it did not satisfy the council's requests.

These include introducing dedicated e-bike parking bays, in-borough resources to remove inconsiderately parked or abandoned e-bikes, increasing the penalty fine and community engagement events.

"Something needs to change as the current situation is unsustainable and leaves a bitter taste in the mouth," council leader Muhammed Butt said.

He added: "The council is receiving repeated, regular complaints about the bikes left across paths and roads in a haphazard way.

"This is putting unsustainable pressure on council staff who are spending time cleaning up after Lime."

One resident, who did not wish to be named, said children were often seen tipping the e-bikes over.

"They're gathered around laughing... they pull them in the way," they said.

"People don't have respect for community assets."

The National Federation of the Blind of the UK (NFBUK) said it welcomed the removal of dockless e-bikes, which it said were "causing danger" to blind, visually-impaired people and other pedestrians.

"The bikes need to be docked and locked off the pavement like the Santander ones," its spokesperson said.

"Until this happens the e-bikes need to be removed."

A Lime spokesperson said their e-bikes were used by "tens of thousands of local residents" in Brent.

It added that there were 10 trial locations where the e-bikes could be parked in the borough, but that this was too few to enforce mandatory parking rules.

"We need these locations in order to maintain a tidy and easy-to-use service that can continue to contribute to the council’s active travel goals."

The spokesperson added Lime could provide "infrastructure funding".

They added the company had more than 250 foot patrollers across London to manage its fleet and remove or tidy obstructive e-bikes and e-scooters.

But Mr Butt said Lime had not "satisfied our proposals" and that the council was waiting for a response to its latest letter.

"Unless Lime changes the way it works with us, we are out of road for its activities in Brent.

"We want Lime to take ours and residents’ concerns seriously and amend its operating model to account for the common-sense asks we have made."

Abandoned e-bikes is a problem Westminster City Council dealt with by adding 350 parking bays.

Paul Dimoldenberg, the council's cabinet member for city management and air quality, said the government needed to give councils more powers to regulate e-bikes and manage parking, in the same way they control car parking.

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said they were working with London Councils and London’s boroughs to "explore a coordinated scheme to manage dockless e-bikes and e-scooters and additional enforcement mechanisms for poorly parked e-bikes".

Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected]