Parliament this afternoon heard a proposal to pass legislation to ban the sale, marketing and supply of illegal e-bikes and powerful conversion kits.
The Labour MP for Carlisle, Julie Minns, made the proposal as a Ten Minute Rule Bill, which allows backbench MPs to make their case for a new bill. The legislation for the ban on the sale of illegal e-bikes is now due for a second reading on 27 February.
During her speech outlining the proposed legislation to Parliament, Minns stressed that “e-bikes, when they conform to the law, are a force for good”. She also said that Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycles (EAPCs: e-bikes with a maximum power output of 250w and a motor that cuts out at 15.5mph) are “lawful, safe, [and] part of our future”.
However, the Labour politician also argued that online marketplaces and overseas suppliers often sell high-powered e-bikes and conversion kits with minimal checks, “scant” safety information and “no clear liability”.
“Too often buyers assume a product is legal because the website does not say otherwise,” she said. “We already accept that some dangerous items simply must not be sold to the public […] monster e-bikes harm and kill. This bill is targeted and proportionate. It will continue to allow the sale and enjoyment of legal e-bikes, but it will shut down the sale and marketing of illegal monster bikes and the kits used to create them.
“It will give regulators and the police powers to seize and destroy non-compliant bikes and conversion kits at the point of sale. It will create clear offences and penalties for retailers of illegal products. Cutting off the sale and marketing of illegal e-bikes removes dangerous products before they can reach our streets.”
Minns compared illegal e-bikes to other products which, when deemed dangerous to the public, must not be sold, such as the retail sale of flick knives, certain types of fireworks to people who are not trained, and asbestos-containing materials.
“Those bans are about removing from the market products that are known to harm and kill,” she said.
The legislation, if passed, would prohibit the marketing, sale and supply of e-bikes that fall outside of EAPC classification and of equipment capable of converting pedal cycles into such a vehicle. In other words, illegal conversion kits.
“It is about protecting pedestrians, other road users, lawful cyclists, constituents and our communities from vehicles that look like bikes that behave like motorbikes,” Minns told Parliament. “It’s about stopping the sale of illegal e-bikes and the kits that turn ordinary everyday pedal bikes into illegal monster bikes. E-bikes, when they conform to the law, are a force for good. They make cleaner journeys, better public health and less congestion.
“The sad reality, as members know, is that there are illegal e-bikes on our streets in our constituencies right now, as I speak, that are reaching dangerously high speeds. Those e-bikes and the conversion kits used to create them are being sold with batteries capable of reaching speeds far beyond 15.5 miles per hour.”
The Labour MP cited police cases of illegal bikes being seized, models which could reach speeds up to 70mph. She also highlighted incidents in Australia, New York and closer to home in Lancashire where pedestrians were killed in collisions involving electric bikes which would be illegal to sell under her legislation.
Minns argued their speed and lack of traceability also made them attractive for criminals and supported offences such as robbery, phone theft and drug dealing. The legislation would “give trading standards and the police and other regulators targeted powers to act against sellers and online marketplaces”.
“It will help riders who rely on e-bikes for work to continue to access safe legal e-bikes,” she concluded. “This is a practical, evidence-led measure to reduce the harm we see in our communities to protect vulnerable people and to make our streets safer. It does, as I have set out, draw on the same logic that led Parliament to ban the sale of other dangerous items.
“It must be the case that when a product is capable of killing or causing injury and its sale cannot be reasonably regulated, it simply should not be sold. Let us be clear, lawful, safe e-bikes are part of our future. What this bill does is introduce measured necessary steps to make our streets safer, to protect our constituents and to stop the sale of monster e-bikes.”
A recent survey commissioned by bike insurance specialist Cycleplan found that one in 12 cyclists now believe illegal e-motorbike riders pose a greater threat to them than motorists in the UK.
1 thought on “Labour MP proposes ban on sale of “monster” e-bikes and illegal conversion kits to “remove dangerous products before they reach our streets””
The law stands or falls by its ability to discriminate between one thing (being illegal) and another (being legal). It does not help her case to start out by conflating electric motorbikes and EAPCs, by referring to them all under the term ebike, which means whatever the speaker wants it to mean.