Writer calls for e-bikes licences during debate

Peter Hitchens and Richard Scrase (left) shared the view that the current e-bikes law needed reviewing

A prominent author and columnist has called for the licensing of e-scooters and e-bikes during a community debate.

Peter Hitchens, who writes for the Mail on Sunday and is an Oxford resident, said an e-bike nearly knocked him off the pavement on Marston Road.

His opponent, Richard Scrase, a trustee of cycling group Cyclox, said he was against the regulation and illegal e-bikes should not put potential riders off.

Mr Hitchens said he had been "nearly swatted by e-bikes a number of times, and not just by delivery drivers".

Some audience members challenged the views of the panel

During the My Jericho debate in St Barnabas church on Thursday, Mr Scrase said that e-bikes were "reliable", "cheap to run", "fun" and "good for your health".

"And don't be put off by the fact that you've got a subset of people, riding illegal machines," he said.

"That is up to the police and the government to enact changes in legislation.

"Hopefully, that would reduce the amount of illegal [e-bikes and e-scooters] that are currently sold and ridden on our streets."

He referred to legal e-bikes as those with a motor limited to 15.5mph as the law dictates.

Illegal e-bikes have been doctored to go faster, and police previously explained that the "vast majority" of the ones it had seized were used by food delivery riders..

A BBC investigation found that buyers had been mislead by disreputable e-scooter sellers as well.

• E-bikes: What is the law and is there an age limit?

"You are riding a motorcycle - it is a bicycle with a motor. It's the same with a car," Mr Hitchens argued.

Mopeds and motorbikes have been subject to law since the 1930s and he said he saw no reason why it should not apply to the "more modern forms of transport".

Mr Hitchens resigned from Cyclox in 2019 on matter of that principle.

He said there was no effective form of ID to complain about riders behaving badly or report them to the law.

He added that he had spent a week trying and failing to obtain government figures on the accidents and fatalities caused by e-bikes.

"[E-bikes] are completely and utterly dissimilar to bicycles... and if they were compelled to be licensed, and people rode them without that, then the police would have to act."

"My views are from experience," he explained when challenged from an audience member.

"Every minute I walk on the streets in London and in Oxford, my life and health are in danger."

He warned Oxford pedestrians and cyclists about the coming of Lime bikes, which he had seen "lie about" on the streets of London.

Mr Hitchens and Mr Scrase shared the view that the current law on e-bikes had gaps and needed reviewing.

"There's definitely a problem of liberty versus regulation, and I am not too sure where I am on that, or I tend to be on the liberty end," Mr Scarse said.