A lot of people are contacting me about e-bikes. I am well aware of the increased use of e-bikes across the city and the county. While these electric vehicles are convenient, environmentally friendly and relatively low cost, they are often ridden illegally and at times dangerously.
This problem has become more prevalent over the last few years, especially with the modification of e-bikes, often used by delivery riders.
The legal position is that a person can ride an electric bike provided that they are 14 or over, as long as it meets certain requirements. Those electric bikes that do meet these requirements are known as ‘electrically assisted pedal cycles’ (EAPCs). A licence is not needed to ride one, nor does it need to be registered, taxed, or insured. If a bike meets the EAPC requirements, it’s classed in legal terms as a normal pedal bike. This means that it can be ridden on cycle paths and anywhere else pedal bikes are allowed.
However, any electric bike that does not meet the EAPC rules is classed as a motorcycle or moped and needs to be registered and taxed. A person would need a driving licence to ride one and must wear a crash helmet. If a person does not comply with this, officers may seize the bike under S.165 road traffic act and the rider may also be reported for offences relating to no insurance, tax and licensing.
Whilst the Force take a proportionate response, when dealing with e-bikes, this is a concern for the local policing team so should officers witness an e-bike being used at excessive speeds than the rider will be stopped to ensure that the e-bike complies with legislation. The Force have been out in various areas over recent weeks under a dedicated operation which has been widely publicised on the Leicestershire Police social media pages. The last one took place on 3rd July where I can confirm a number of seizures took place and riders reported for offences. These operations will continue with the local neighbourhood teams across different areas of the city and two counties, let by the local officers.
You will be pleased to know that there have been by Leicestershire Police to address the use of e-bikes, as part of the ASB awareness week and this work will continue.
Photo: An A2B e-bike by Jim.henderson - Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12136114