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news
Adrian Chiles riding an e-bike on BBC Panorama (credit: BBC)BBC claims its Panorama episode about e-bikes was “fair and impartial and clearly not an attack on the e-bike industry”
After a barrage of criticism from the cycling community following the controversial Panorama episode titled ‘E-Bikes: The Battle For Our Streets’, the BBC has claimed that it was “fair and impartial” in its assessment of e-bikes, adding that it was “clearly not an attack on the e-bike industry”.
The public-service broadcaster made these claims in an email to a viewer’s complaint, seen by road.cc, in which it also defended its use of the umbrella term e-bikes to describe not just Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycles (EAPCs), but also “illegal” and “modified” e-bikes, e-mopeds, and e-motorcycles.
The episode, which aired on 6 January 2025, was hosted by Adrian Chiles, the popular Guardian columnist who in 2023 proclaimed “expensive cargo bikes, some with electric motors” as a “new kind of class politics”.
While the episode does touch up on the various benefits of e-bikes, such as their convenience and positive impact on the environment, the contentious issues about them were ushered in through a major focus on the illegally modified e-bikes, often seen in use by youths and delivery couriers, without ever explicitly mentioning that they are distinct from the e-bikes used by most people.
In fact, Chiles’ primary question paints them in a negative light, asking viewers whether electric bikes were “a new menace in need of tighter regulation”. He concludes the episode by saying that “in the absence of clear, enforceable rules, chaos could be coming our way.”
The episode was blasted by cyclists, who accused the BBC of “attacking” e-bikes in a “fishy, fearmongering” episode “littered with inaccuracy, misinformation, and bias” and painting “crime-ridden, apocalyptic vision”.
However, the BBC has now refuted such accusations, instead saying “throughout the programme, contributors outlined both positive and negative aspects of e-bikes” and they showed that “e-bikes are beneficial for the environment, convenient for users and often fun to ride.”
“We felt it was important to look at illegal e-bikes in the episode due to a growing concern from councils, police forces and citizens about ‘e-bikes’ of every form, not only those known as Electrically Assisted Peddle (sic) Cycles (EAPCs),” the BBC wrote.
“Some viewers thought we conflated different types of e-bikes, modified bikes, e-mopeds, and e-motorcycles, by using the terms ‘e-bike’ or ‘illegal e-bike’ throughout the film. Our commentary made clear that there are various forms of e-bike which are available to buy across the UK – including with a tax break on the cycle-to-work scheme.
“To the public and to all intents and purposes, e-bikes and those bikes which do not conform to EAPC regulations are indistinguishable: two-wheeled vehicles with an electric battery-powered motor and having the same or similar physical appearance to a bicycle. The former is governed by restrictions which are dealt with in the programme.
“The term e-bike is used for a wide range of products, not all adhering to UK law. The government states: ‘There are many products known as ‘e-bikes’ or ‘e-cycles’ available on the market. However, not all of these are classified as EAPCs.’
“Moreover, the police use the term ‘e-bike’ to describe both legal e-bikes and illegal e-bikes. Forces across the UK rarely use the descriptor ‘e-moped’ or ‘e-motorcycle’ but instead prefer to use the term “illegal e-bike” when discussing non-EAPC regulation e-bikes. In order to accurately reflect the information given to us by these forces, we felt it was appropriate to take a similar approach, and felt it was justified to use a range of footage of different road legal e-bikes and illegal e-bikes throughout the film.”
The email mentioned the government guidelines which state that EAPCs “must have a maximum power output of 250 watts”, but also conceded that the law is not designed to stop “circumstances when an e-bike’s power output might briefly exceed the 250 watt rate in surge”, claiming that it further justified the commentary in the programme as “accurate”.
“This is also the case regarding the throttles on e-bikes, where we stated that the ‘motor should only work while you’re pedalling, not by pressing a button,’” they wrote. “The UK law allows for ‘walk assistance’ for up to 6 km/h but it is possible to get an e-bike reclassified via the DVSA as an e-moped and then use a throttle when not pedalling. This presents difficulty for police and councils who have to work out which e-bikes have been reclassified as e-mopeds.”
The BBC concluded, saying: “Some viewers felt the programme was too negative about e-bikes. However we believe it was fair and impartial and from the outset was clearly not an attack on the e-bike industry but an examination of how the huge rise in their use has impacted our towns and cities.
“The programme featured a range of views, many of them positive about e-bikes. For example, a Londoner talking about how he loved to use them to get around the city; Sushila Dhall referred to their positive impact on the environment; and Dr Alex Nurse explained their convenience.
“Adrian Chiles as the reporter was open-minded about e-bikes and showed viewers how easily you can use an e-bike as he rode across London. He later tried some other types of e-bikes and found it a positive experience. He was curious about their impact on his home city of Birmingham, but ultimately concluded in the programme that e-bikes are a ‘good thing’ and he can ‘see their value’.”
Adrian Chiles riding an ebike on Panorama 2 (credit: BBC)
Despite the BBC making claims of fair and impartial reportage, many cyclists and those in the industry have expressed a contrasting view. Just days after the episode’s airing, the Bicycle Association (BA), the national body representing the cycling industry in the UK, lodged a formal complaint with the broadcaster.
It argued that the programme inaccurately and repeatedly conflated the “safety and social issues” surrounding the use of “illegal e-motorbikes” with road-legal e-bikes, claiming that this “misrepresentation” has “unjustifiably damaged” the e-bike sector.
The group also called for the term ‘e-bike’ to be removed from the programme’s title to better reflect its apparent focus on e-motorbikes — as the Bicycle Association (BA) refers to them — and claimed the episode failed to provide “fair balance or representation from the reputable e-bike sector”. The BA claims this was a breach of the BBC’s editorial guidelines, while also failing to properly inform the public about the current laws and regulations around electric bikes.
Last week, Ray Wookey, the owner of an e-bike shop in south London branded the programme “troubling” and “misleading”, with the potential to “unfairly influence public opinion and undermine the efforts of responsible retailers who prioritise safety, respectful riding, and adherence to the law”.
Wookey argued that the use of the phrase “illegal e-bikes” was “misleading and damaging”, and has the effect of cementing in the public’s mind that all e-bikes are illegal, and that the general “imbalance” evident in the episode has the potential to “hurt trustworthy electric bike businesses”.
Adwitiya joined road.cc in 2023 as a news writer after completing his masters in journalism from Cardiff University. His dissertation focused on active travel, which soon threw him into the deep end of covering everything related to the two-wheeled tool, and now cycling is as big a part of his life as guitars and football. He has previously covered local and national politics for Voice Cymru, and also likes to write about science, tech and the environment, if he can find the time. Living right next to the Taff trail in the Welsh capital, you can find him trying to tackle the brutal climbs in the valleys.
Latest Comments
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It reminds me of the design the train companies have come up with & expect you to be able to fit your bike into...
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To be fair Nodgedave, not all Trans women are old rich males. Some are just rich white males.
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Well it looks like they've got a page now. It says they'll accept video evidence but I haven't been through the whole process. Looks very similar...
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Sorry, but the BBC is definitely tilting towards cycling after the Panorama debacle....
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Unlikely. Not once he hears that it'll 'help Gore'.
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Indeed I did. I can only assume the Mr Onion allowed himself to be interviewed and dropped himself in it by not accepting the caution. A caution...
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Remember your hiplock D1000 is only as good as the street furniture it is attached to.
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I feel this person's problems may be a little more deep seated than not wanting to pay ulez (although their car is exempt).
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Now very old news, but it still just doesn't take....
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62 comments
I'd like to make a complaint to the ombudsman about Road.cc's unfair an inaccurate portrayal of Adrian Chiles.
"Adrian Chiles, the popular Guardian columnist"
A columnist, popular at the Grauniad, possibly...
Very unpopular, I am informed by someone on the inside; the majority of staff would love to have their own column and seeing someone getting well paid for wittering on about the fact that he has a urinal in his bathroom for no other reason than that he's in a relationship with the editor understandably grates.
...."To the public and to all intents and purposes, e-bikes and those bikes which do not conform to EAPC regulations are indistinguishable: two-wheeled vehicles...." used to get that with local horseriders at access meetings switched between the activities of (legal and permitted) mountain bikers and illegal offroad motorbike riders in mid complaint and it took patience to repeatedly ask people to differentiate to establish what the true problems were...way back the BBC charter had a charter and a role to "educate and inform" not create clickbait and promote ignorance.
Ps not anti horse rider genarally get a bad deal just frustrating
Yeah, and Elon claims that wasn't a Nazi salute he threw at the inauguration rally.
Has he actually claimed that? I was under the impression that he has neither denied nor apologised for making two Nazi salutes.
Not as far as I'm aware, his response was “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is soo tired.” - which is several goosesteps removed from "Of course I wasn't making a Nazi salute."
I interpreted it as "I'm now so powerful that I don't even need to hide my actual politics". Similar to Trump's comment about how he could murder someone in broad daylight and people would still vote for him.
He's trolling people who think "no-one would do that on purpose", but he's clearly been amplifying neo-Nazis and white supremacists on his Xitter platform, so we better start believing that he's hell-bent on world domination and possibly succeeding where Hitler failed.
Ah, but is it just "for the lolz", "because free speech", "the real danger is the wokery / left / those pushing social experiments on everyone*"?
Or is he just a megalomaniac / "I'm brighter and better ergo I can disregard those I see as fools" (a widely held feeling)?
Or just completely cynical - "don't care any particular way, but winding people up sells stuff and ultimately serves my purposes"? (In the same way that Trump may have 'done a Boris' to some extent - by calculating that he'd get further by picking the Republican side to be a leader for)?
* Apparently it's always someone else who's pushing a dangerous social experiment.
I know we're talking about the Musk, but the Orange One's attitude toward freedom of speech is perfectly illustrated by he and his minions' reaction to that bishop telling them to be nice to other people for a change.
He has misogynistic form for calling women of intellect and integrity; Attorneys General, Judges, Bishops, 'Nasty' since the narcissistic sociopath can't stand people who don't subjugate all that they hold sacred to the dear leader.
He's know as the Tangerine Toddler with justification.
FOTUS
#vpdfo
It's clearly more than just "for the lolz" as I believe they're now rounding up various Mexicans/latinos/immigrants for deportation - reminds me of the tactics employed in pre-WWII Germany.
Ah, but they're criminals - by definition if they entered illegally. It's when they change the laws to enhance their power and then break them anyway that you have to worry. That obviously hasn't happened yet ... oh, wait...
(Also I see the first "president for life" petition is already in - although apparently "no chance")
Anyway, back to EAPCs vs. electic mopeds / motorbikes...
The template at the top of that Wikipedia entry works on so many levels:
I've finally watched this and on the whole I found it well... just a bit crap, rather than inspiring me to file a complaint. I'm not sure their continual vague use of "ebike", irritating though it is, is really going to affect how people react to those on legal EAPCs. Mostly Adrian Chiles just saying daft stuff that isn't specific to ebikes "could be dangerous in the wrong hands" (what, a bit like that massive Yamaha you turned up on then, when you admit "I don't mind a bit of speed, I'm just used to something a bit bigger"?).
But this bit is plain wrong: "if you're on a moped, you've got to have a registration plate, you've got to be insured. On this, doing exactly the same speed, you don't have to wear a helmet, you don't have to have any insurance or anything." No Adrian, you do, because by definition that thing you're pointing to is a motorcycle. Also disliked "this is what happens when an e-bike collides with a car at 15.5mph" - no, this is a dooring, at a speed that can easily and legally be achieved by lots of people.
PS: road.cc, your picture caption should say "Adrian Chiles riding a motorbike"
I'd like to object to the description "popular Guardian columnist", his Guardian columns are short, thin, tedious pap.
Don't mind him on radio and TV, but the written word is not his forte.
The response does not tell you how to escalate the complaint to the next level, to the Executive Complaints Unit. To do so, you go back to the BBC's complaints page and fill in another complaint, telling them that it is in relation to a previous complaint and quoting the reference number.
Good luck!
Having complained many times to the BBC, I am confident that this will be dismissed with more weasel words and protestations of innocence, but, if you've gone through their complaints process, you can take it to Ofcom now. I'm quite looking forward to that.
E-Bikes ARE a menace - it's teenagers who ride these at pathetic speeds - deregulated - this is basic fact and they need to be got hold of! some guys who had them told me of the speeds their can attain on them and it wasn't 15mph more like 3x that + over to the whomever who's not really in charge to police them, cause they don't, the streets!
What?
erm. You mean some people are a menace. E-bikes (like cars) don't park themselves inconsideratley, or speed.
Illegally-modified bikes with extra batteries and bigger motors so that they are electric mopeds are often ridden by delivery riders going at full pelt. Electric motorcycles like Surons are very rarely registered and are therefore illegal for the most part. They are often ridden with no concern for others.
But legal e-bikes are a different matter altogether. The programme failed to clarify this.
TBF, there is a segment where they broadly outline what a legal EAPC is. But I agree the programme as a whole doesn't make clear that the complaints are mainly about what are really illegal motorbikes. That said, plenty of (legal) Lime bikes are also ridden with reckless disregard.
The point is all that has happened is we have gone from illegal petrol off road motorbikes to illegal electric off road motorbikes.
Then the deliberate attempt to conflate these with EAPC's (i.e. the legal definition for electric bicycles.)
And as I have said repeatedly before, the ONLY functional fix is more road traffic officers; But this is political suicide, as for every man hour spent on this they would be spending 100+ man hours prosecuting drivers; hence allegations of 'war on the motorist' against any politician providing resources for it...
Those aren't e-bikes (pedelecs) though, those are illegal electric motorbikes and yes, they should be properly policed.
Educate yourself bellend.
The BBC's response is a disgrace, made even worse by not informing people how to escalate the complaint.
The Black Belt Barrister has now joined in "E-Bikes: The phenomenon, The Problem."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zldjnJ3rg4
He used to be balanced and informative, but since labour got in, he's gone completely Farage.
He confuses his own arguments when he talks about e-scooters. The use of e-scooters on the roads are subject t0 stringent regulations. ie it's regulated hire or NOTHING. However, if nobody is enforcing it.....
Also the e-motorbike in the photo. Is clearly doing more than 15.5mph and when the rider takes off he doesn't even have his feet on the pedals. I don't even think it has pedals as their feet are not off centre, they seem to be opposite each other. It's an electric twist and go.
These "e-bikes" will only become a serous problem if the authorities continue to ignore the problem.
If the media continue to mis-classify these vehicles as e-bikes (what I would prefer to be called e-mopeds) then perhaps we should call the legal variety e-cycles.
What's the difference between an emoped and a gothped?
There's no Emoped weekend in Whitby?
I think they went to Brighton instead (or was that the emodpeds)?
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