Three-quarters of shops selling private e-scooters are informing buyers about legal restrictions applying to their use, according to a new survey.
Safer Roads Greater Manchester sent mystery shopper to 43 stores across the region that sell e-scooters, in order to check that staff were providing buyers with the correct information about the rules on e-scooter usage.
At present, it is illegal to use private e-scooters on public roads and pavements, along with public squares, university campuses and car parks. They can be used on private land, but only with the permission of the land owner or occupier. Rental e-scooters that are part of government trials can be used on public roads.
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That is because e-scooters are, like cars, classed as 'motorised transport'. The government is considering creating a new category of vehicle for them if it does decide to legalise their use in the future.
According to Safer Roads Greater Manchester, 75% of the retailers it visited – which included both high street retailers and independent stores – correctly told mystery shoppers that it was illegal to ride e-scooters on roads and pavements.
Staff in near two-thirds of the shops surveyed also recommended customers wear a helmet when using an e-scooter. That is not a legal requirement, although the government does recommend wearing a helmet when using a rented e-scooter.
Safer Roads Greater Manchester conducted the survey in the run-up to Christmas, and says it will give feedback to all the stores so that improvements can be made.
Kevin Hargreaves, the highways key route network boss at Transport for Greater Manchester said: “With e-scooters growing in popularity, it’s more important than ever that the people buying them understand the laws that apply to their use.
“This exercise was carried out to ensure that customers were given all the information they required to make an informed decision, and to check that retailers were playing their part by being responsible.”
Superintendent Julie Ellison, from Greater Manchester Police's Specialist Operations Team said: “When buying an e-scooter, many members of the public may be unaware of the rules that prohibit them from being ridden on roads and pavements, so responsible retailers should make this clear at the point of sale.”
Ellison added that the parents of children using e-scooters may be responsible for fines incurred from them being ridden illegally.
Late last year, Greater Manchester Police said it had seized 148 e-scooters that were either ridden illegally or involved in an accident in the previous 12 months. In London, the Metropolitan Police seized more than 3600 e-scooters that had been used illegally last year.
Transport for Greater Manchester is currently running rental e-scooter trials in Rochdale and Salford. Both schemes are being operated by Lime, which says 55,000 riders have so far made 220,000 trips covering more than 239,000 miles.
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