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Belgian posties back using pedal power as exploding e-bike batteries recalled

Jacques Tati didn't see this one coming in his vision of the future of postal delivery...

Postal workers in Belgium who normally use electric bicycles to help deliver the mail are currently relying solely on pedal power to get around after reports of exploding batteries prompted a recall.

In all, 2,000 employees had been using electrical bicycles on their rounds, but they’re now having to do so relying only on the power supplied by their legs after postal bosses ordered them to hand the batteries back pending an investigation into a string of incidents, reports Reuters.

"Last week, we had one battery on one bicycle, smoke came out and the postman immediately stopped and he took away the battery and it exploded," explained a spokesman for bpost.

Batteries left overnight to recharge are also suspected to be the possible cause of a fire that took place in a post office in Belgium.

"The electrical bicycles can still be used without the battery, so the vast majority of the rounds that are impacted are still being done by the postmen with the bicycles but without the batteries," the spokesman added.

The manufacturer is now checking the batteries, and it is anticipated that they will not be returned or replaced for two months, adds Reuters.

There’s no way of knowing what the French postman played by Jacques Tati in the slapstick classic Jour de Fete would have made of the situation, but we reckon he’d have extracted some comedy gold from it.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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cat1commuter | 12 years ago
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I predict that in the future British posties will be put back on bicycles. (Oh, and there are better postal bicycles than the Pashleys which can carry more mail more conveniently.)

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formereve | 12 years ago
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Please take a 1 minute silence for the passing away of the dear Pashley cycle. The British postman and postwoman's friend  20

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Fringe | 12 years ago
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unfortunately us british postmen and women wont have to fend off exploding batteries as they have taken our bikes away and stuck us in a van.

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