UK Government Backs Councils Charging E-Bike Operators for Removing Illegally Parked Bikes
Transport minister Lord Hendy endorsed Kensington and Chelsea’s approach of billing operators more than £210,000 for clearing discarded hire bikes. Peers also pressed for mandatory insurance rules.
news.sky.comThe UK government has urged local authorities across Britain to require e-bike hire companies to pay for the removal of abandoned bicycles from pavements. Transport minister Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill told the House of Lords that other councils should follow the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which has charged operators more than £210,000 over the past 18 months.
Kensington and Chelsea council has removed more than 2,500 illegally parked e-bikes and e-scooters since January 2025.
It seized more than 1,200 hire bikes that created an immediate danger of significant obstruction during 2026 and billed Lime, Human Forest, Voi and Bolt a total of £210,098. The borough removes bikes lying across the pavement, those likely to fall on pedestrians, or those that force people to step into the road.
” Crossbench peer Lord Krebs described the problem in Oxford, where discarded e-bikes and e-scooters block footpaths for mothers with prams, elderly people and the sight-impaired.
He asked whether other councils, including Oxfordshire County Council, should adopt the same charging policy. ” Shadow transport minister Lord Moylan said e-bikes had turned British city streets into “shoddy and tawdry” sights. “What they’ve been turned into is sort-of great parking lots of bikes for the benefit of private companies,” he told peers.
Liberal Democrat Lord Storey raised the case of Sandy Peters, who suffered serious facial injuries after being hit by an e-bike rider in south London last year. She could not recover the £10,000 cost of dental surgery because no rider liability insurance existed. Lord Hendy said the government could introduce insurance requirements through the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill.
“As part of the powers that the Government has taken for shared cycles, we will have powers to set insurance requirements,” he stated. ” He added that hire schemes need rules and the legislation allows the government to set them.
