English organisations ‘taking advantage’ with e-bike trips to north Wales

Richard Evans, Local Democracy Reporter

Companies in England are “taking advantage” of north Wales’ scenery and bringing tourists to the region to use e-bikes illegally, a meeting has been told.

During a meeting of the North Wales Police and Crime Panel meeting this week at Conwy County Council’s Coed Pella HQ in Colwyn Bay, calls were made for tougher enforcement on the use of e-bikes and e-scooters.

Police and Crime Commissioner Andy Dunbobbin told the meeting people were travelling into North Wales from as far afield as Essex to use e-bikes illegally.

Flintshire councillor Chris Bithell said he wanted to see more enforcement action taken against people riding e-bikes and e-scooters illegally. “I think they’ve had raids and confiscated quite a few in Wrexham,” he said.

“But the problem is far wider than that across the police (region), I think. I see this on a regular basis. It’s not just in my own town but elsewhere as well.

“Young people and adults ride these bikes on pavements and so on. And there was a case quite recently where, I think, an old lady was knocked down by one of these electric bikes, and she died subsequently of her injuries, and then you are told you can’t get insurance for these.”

He added: “So if anybody is seriously injured or killed, there are no claims or any insurance because they haven’t got any.

“So I’m just rather anxious we step up the enforcement of this and the confiscation, not just in certain parts of the region but elsewhere.”

Mr Dunbobbin claimed “organisations” were bringing visitors from England into Wales to use e-bikes illegally.

“You are quite right, Cllr Bithell. It is not just in one particular area of North Wales. It’s not just happening in Wrexham; it’s happening in Flintshire. It is happening in each local authority area to varying degrees,” he said.

“I know it is a big problem, and we’ve never shied away from that. I know the force is working really hard in tackling that because there are organisations over in England who take advantage of our beautiful scenery here in North Wales.

“In fact, this was brought up at one point at the conference, the roadshow, we had in Ruthin, where they would use green lanes or the white stones by the Ceiriog Valley, where organisations are established.

“They will bring people along from as far as Essex, to come and see our beautiful scenery, and I think we have no problem with welcoming tourists at all in North Wales as part of the local economy and jobs, but to be treating it with the manner of respect that we would expect of them, and when that type of activity is going on, it really is a shame.”

Mr Dunbobbin said he was the first Police and Crime Commissioner in North Wales to have a strategy tackling e-bikes included in his plan. He added a lot of work had been done by police before Christmas to try to educate parents on the laws of e-bikes and e-scooters.

Chief Constable Amanda Blakeman said: “So e-bikes, so you have to be 14 or over. The power wattage can’t be over 250 watts, and it can’t be capable of going on the road over 15 and a half miles an hour, and it has to be pedal assisted.

“That is an e-bike, and you don’t need insurance for that.

“If it is any of those things over that, it is a motor vehicle, and you need insurance for it. So that is one of the things we see where people are adapting these bikes in order for them to go faster or have a higher wattage.”

Ms Blakeman said police were working “incredibly hard to deal” with the issue of people riding the bikes illegally.

But the Chief Constable added you couldn’t drive e-scooters on the road at all “because there is no ability to have insurance in relation to them”.

She added: “It shouldn’t be the case that anybody is riding an e-scooter around pavements, etc. They have to be used on privately owned land with the landowner’s permission.”

Ms Blakeman also spoke about the work that had been done before Christmas advising parents so they weren’t “buying something for their child that they then can’t use”.

She said while e-scooters were being used for criminality in bigger cities, it wasn’t as big a problem in North Wales, where the bikes typically were used in “an anti-social manner”.