Acquaintance injured by rider of illegal 'e-bike'.

[KnittyNorah]

A middle-aged woman I know vaguely - she volunteers in a charity shop I go to quite often - was, I thought, on holiday from her paid work as she'd not been in the charity shop for a couple of weeks and had earlier mentioned something about going up to to Scotland towards the end of August.
I went in today and there she was.
'Hello! Did you have a nice holiday?' I asked.

No.

After her last day at work, before her holiday, she'd been walking home on the pavement in the late afternoon (Blackpool Rd, Ashton, in Preston for anyone who knows the area - although I don't know on what stretch of the road) when all of a sudden there was a 'wumph', blackness, and she woke up to find herself in the back of an ambulance, sirens blaring, going to hospital.

A food delivery illegal 'e-bike' rider - masked, hooded and balaclavad as is the usual custom - had run straight into her from behind; a passer-by called the police and ambulance and insisted the delivery rider remain around - actually I don't think he could physically leave as apparently there were bits of bike scattered around.

She was kept in hospital for 48 hours due to having been unconcious for a significant period, and took a total of 2 weeks off work for healing of general pain, cuts, bruises, strains and stress. She doesn't like walking home now and is constantly on edge when outside, unless she's with other people.

She has been advised that the police are 'considering' prosecution, that the rider has 'probably' lost his job and that she should consider claiming compensation.

But, as she said, if he has no job, and no insurance, WHO is going to provide any compensation which might - possibly - be due to her? It's not 'herself' she's thinking about - her employer has a decent sick pay scheme and has of course reissued her holiday days - but the what ifs of the event. What if she'd received a life-changing injury?

Well, we will just have to wait and see what, if anything, Lancs Police does about a
prosecution. I don't hold out much hope of ANYthing being done ... except that if the rider's working illegally he might find himself with a slap on the wrist.

 

[mjr]

That's awful. Please let us know if you hear what happens. At least these delivery nuts are now on e bikes instead of mopeds or old bangers, but I know that's no comfort.

 

[Mrs M]

I hope this lady makes a full and speedy recovery.
Must have been a huge shock for her.
Some of these delivery drivers are a menace with no regard for the law.

 

[Gillstay]

His employers should be paying. If he lives at home and the house has insurance she may be able to make a claim there otherwise..

 

[Drago]

If she can get the dibblemto confirm to her it's status as an illegal ebike, ie, an unregistered moped or motorcycle, she can claim from the Motor Insurers Bureau, who exist to provide compomfor losses incurred by uninsured or unidentified motorists.

 

[KnittyNorah]

That's awful. Please let us know if you hear what happens. At least these delivery nuts are now on e bikes instead of mopeds or old bangers, but I know that's no comfort.

What they are on are not e-bikes but what are, in effect, unlicensed, uninsured, electric mopeds and motorbikes which have been imported and sold without any sort of type approval.

In addition, unlike the mopeds and old bangers, they are silent, or almost so - Blackpool Road is pretty busy, and my acquaintance has a slight hearing impairment in one ear - which old bangers and mopeds are certainly not, and the old bangers at least, are, I would think, significantly less likely to use a footway than are electric two-wheelers.

Illegal and/or inconsiderate use of any vehicle is to be condemned, but these electrically-propelled two-wheelers are surely even more dangerous than old bangers and mopeds due to the combination of their silence and their frequent use on footways

 

[KnittyNorah]

If she can get the dibblemto confirm to her it's status as an illegal ebike, ie, an unregistered moped or motorcycle, she can claim from the Motor Insurers Bureau, who exist to provide compomfor losses incurred by uninsured or unidentified motorists.

Thanks for that. I will see her later this week and tell her what you said. He is not unidentified, but almost certainly uninsured, although if he is actually employed by a company rather than merely working as a contractor or self-employed, I would think they would hold some degree of liability.

 

[classic33]

If she can get the dibblemto confirm to her it's status as an illegal ebike, ie, an unregistered moped or motorcycle, she can claim from the Motor Insurers Bureau, who exist to provide compomfor losses incurred by uninsured or unidentified motorists.

It's an illegal vehicle, and as far as I'm aware the MIB don't cover them. Much the same as they don't cover e-scooter incidents.

His employers should be paying. If he lives at home and the house has insurance she may be able to make a claim there otherwise..

They tend to be self employed.

 

[alicat]

It's an illegal vehicle, and as far as I'm aware the MIB don't cover them. Much the same as they don't cover e-scooter incidents.

I heard a R4 programme saying that they DID cover illegal vehicles including e-scooters. So the OP's acquaintance should get in touch with the MIB just in case.

 

[Drago]

It's an illegal vehicle, and as far as I'm aware the MIB don't cover them. Much the same as they don't cover e-scooter incidents.

They tend to be self employed.

They cover "motor vehicles", ie, mechanically propelled vehicles adapted ormintended for use on a roadmor public place. The gov.uk website clearly states that. Any non EAPC ebike or scooter is by default a motor vehicle.

If the police confirm its legal status as a moped they're going to struggle to argue their way out of that definition. For example, they've been facing claims over illegal escooters for a couple of years now.

Fortunately, MIB does provide opportunity to pursue a claim for damage. It is accepted that an e-scooter falls within the definition of a motor vehicle for the purpose of section 185 Road Traffic Act 1988 and, thus, falls within the remit of the uninsured driver’s agreement. It remains necessary for the Claimant to prove negligence, damage, and loss but, subject to this and pending the Claimant having the patience to deal with MIB presently, there is prospect in them being compensated.

ive dealt with them professionally, and they generally duck and dive and dealing with them is fraught, but if its not a legal EAPC ebike its 100% within their remit. Fortunately, riding along a footway on an unregistered moped or motorcycle (depending on weight/performance) would on its own likely be easy to demonstrate as negligent behaviour.

 

[DaveReading]

What they are on are not e-bikes but what are, in effect, unlicensed, uninsured, electric mopeds and motorbikes which have been imported and sold without any sort of type approval.

Sadly, but perhaps inevitably, the term "e-bike" has become so ill-defined that it can apply to almost anything.

Nowadays, the crucial distinction is whether or not an e-bike qualifies as an EAPC (Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycle), with its well-defined criteria.

Anything that falls outside the EAPC criteria must, of necessity, be taxed and insured and the rider licensed and helmeted before it can be legally ridden on the road.

 

[mjr]

In addition, unlike the mopeds and old bangers, they are silent, or almost so -

Some delivery mopeds have been electric for a while.

Point taken on e bike.

May they get well soon.

 

[bonzobanana]

I'm curious how it's definitely an illegal ebike. Certainly a throttle doesn't make it automatically illegal. Really it's whether it assists beyond 15.5mph or doesn't have pedals. The wattage is a grey area, many shop bought fully certified ebikes are delivering more than 800W of power with a current well over 20A. However what they don't do is assist over 15.5mph. There are still 3 legal ways to have a twist and go throttle ebike in the UK but all of those options will not assist beyond 15.5mph. One of those options is to fit an ebike kit to a standard bicycle.

https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/dft-pedal-cycles-converted-twist-go-exempt-type-approval/

I've also seen a gig economy courier using a older ebike that was sold before 2016 and still legal to use today that has a twist and go throttle. However it was bodged with a replacement battery pack presumably because the original lead acid or nickel cadmium battery was unusable after 7 years. The thing was those early ebikes are quite a size and weight due to the more primitive batteries originally fitted. It looked like a 35kg ebike.

It could be the ebike itself is legal but the way it was used was not.

 

[Drago]

It'll be pretty obvious - no EAPC conformance plate or label then it's not a legal ebike, regardless of whether on not it only assists up to 15.5 mph. Bobbies are being taught what to look out for, at least up my end.

On top of that, RPU bobbies are liable to also be qualified vehicle examiners, so would have little difficulty in identifying a dodgy one.

If the dibble have told themmits an illegal machine, it probably is.

But let's be honest, we've all seen these Deliveroo sorts - other food transport lunatics are available - on these high powered beasts and the huge batteries and motors make it pretty obvious that few, if any, are riding completely legal machines.

 

[Illaveago]

I would have thought that unless any rider or delivery driver has taken out insurance cover for them to use their vehicle for work then they wouldn't be covered by their normal insurance? Normal insurance just covers you for driving to work and back and pleasure and not for carrying goods .