Cheltenham Festival: E-scooters suspended over safety fears

The e-scooter trial in Cheltenham will be suspended during the four-day racing festival

Fears over drunk racegoers have led to an e-scooter trial being suspended during Cheltenham Festival week.

It comes after Gloucestershire Police raised concerns over safety and reports of "clearly intoxicated" people riding them last year.

Zwings, which operates the e-scooters, said it was disappointed with the decision but wanted to work in collaboration with the council.

Gloucestershire County Council will halt the trial until 17 March.

'Hostage to fortune'

Gloucestershire Police and Crime Commissioner Chris Nelson said drunk racegoers using e-scooters would "create all sorts of accidents", something that concerned him last year.

"I saw people, and they were clearly intoxicated, getting on these things, more than one person, and then scooting down Evesham Road weaving in and out of the public.

"What I saw last November was a whole load of e-scooters parked up outside the entrance to the racecourse and I think that was a hostage to fortune."

E-scooter company Zwings, which launched in the town in autumn 2020, said there were no incidents during the four-day racing festival last year and the company had one of the best records on safety.

However, Deputy Chief Constable Sean West said the police's focus was on "keeping people safe" and "preventing injury at the time when our hospitals are otherwise very very busy."

Cheltenham Festival attracted a record crowd of of 280,627 in 2022

DCC West said: "Any effort to attempt to minimise the impact of that, of course should be an admirable ambition."

Downgraded due to strikes, hospital patients in Cheltenham who require access to accident and emergency services are currently being sent to Gloucester.

A spokesperson for Gloucestershire County Council said the e-scooters would "remain in their bays, locked down for the duration of the festival" after "police raised concerns about the safety of e-scooters used by racegoers".

They also said they had offered "alternative proposals to limit the service between the town centre and the racecourse" to "mitigate disruption to existing users" but decided a "full suspension was required.