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'Mr Loophole' lawyer Nick Freeman wades into e-scooter debate... by launching petition calling for cyclists to be licensed

Government has consistently said that registration of bike riders would be counter-productive and that costs would outweigh benefits

Nick Freeman, the Manchester-based lawyer who styles himself ‘Mr Loophole’, has seized upon media focus on the introduction of trial e-scooter hire schemes in several London boroughs yesterday to launch a petition urging the government to ensure that all people who ride them display ID and are licensed – and has taken the opportunity to repeat his call for cyclists to be subject to similar rules.

The lawyer made a name for himself exploiting legal technicalities to enable clients – including celebrities such as David Beckham, Wayne Rooney, Sir Alex Ferguson, Van Morrison and Jeremy Clarkson – to get off motoring-related charges, typically because correct procedures had not been followed by the authorities.

Freeman, who claims to be a supporter of cycling, has consistently called for cyclists to be made to wear helmets and hi-visibility tabards bearing registration numbers, and to be required to use cycle lanes, where they are available – none of which are currently legal requirements, and with little prospect of them being made so.

> Mr Loophole lawyer says lockdown has led to “culture of toxic cycling”

In his petition, posted yesterday on the government website under the title Introduce new requirements for cyclists/e-scooters: visible ID, licences, etc, Freeman – who once called for pedestrians to be forced to wear reflective clothing at night after a driver he represented was convicted of causing the death of a rabbi through careless driving – said:

The Government should require cyclists and e-scooter riders display visible ID, require that cycle lanes be used where available, and introduce a licensing and penalty point system for all cyclists and licensing system for escooter riders.

Roads are now shared with more cyclists and e-scooters than ever. Yet cyclists and e-scooter riders aren`t currently held accountable in same way as drivers.

Cycle lanes can be safer yet are often not-used. A licence scheme and penalty points system should ensure responsible cycling and e-scooter use.

I welcome growth in cycling but this must be tempered with legislation to make roads safer for all.

The petition currently has just over 1,000 signatures, and should that number reach 10,000, the government is obliged to provide a response.

In the event that the petition is signed by 100,000 or more people, it will be considered for a House of Commons debate by the Backbench Business Committee, but there is no guarantee that such a debate will follow, especially when a petition relates to a subject on which the government has made its position clear.

Taking the subject of e-scooters first, as a solicitor specialising in road traffic law with several decades’ experience, Freeman will no doubt be aware that e-scooters are currently classified by the Department for Transport (DfT) as motor vehicles.

Under current law it is illegal to ride privately owned ones on roads or footways in England; they can only be ridden on private land, and police can, and do, seize ones being ridden on the public highway and take action against riders.

Indeed, announcing last year that it would allow the trial of e-scooters, the DfT made clear that during the trial period, “e-scooters will continue to be classed as motor vehicles, meaning requirements to have insurance and the correct type of driving licence will continue to apply.”

It added that “In the future, following trials, we may look to amend the law to treat e-scooters more like EAPCs [electrically assisted pedal cycles], which are not treated as ‘motor vehicles’ in law.”

So, the position regarding people riding e-scooters on the road at present is clear; the only ones that can legally be ridden on the road at present are those in the trial hire schemes, the rider must be aged over 18 and have at least a provisional driving licence, and the e-scooter itself will have a registration plate. By cross-referencing with records of hires, the plate enables individual riders to be traced in the event of a collision, with the hiring company providing third-party insurance.

As for Freeman repeating his call for cyclists to be licensed, Twitter user Christopher Day cited the government’s response, published in 2018, to a consultation on its Cycling & Walking Investment Strategy, in which it explained: "The safety case for a testing/licensing system for cyclists is not as strong as that for drivers since, by contrast with motor vehicles, bicycles involved in collisions on the highway are far less likely to cause serious injury to other road users."

It added that the introduction of such rules would deter people from cycling, and underlined that “the government has no plans to introduce a registration and licensing regime for cyclists because the costs and complexity of introducing such a system would significantly outweigh the benefits.”

Nothing in the government’s position has changed since – indeed, a key part of its consultation into proposed changes to the Highway Code last year was introducing a hierarchy of road users to help protect the most vulnerable rather than impose additional rules on them.

Nevertheless, the supposed “debate” over such issues will continue to crop up in the mainstream media or on radio shows – and as his appearance on TalkRADIO today underlines, Freeman is never shy of using such opportunities to put his view across.

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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52 comments

Avatar
HoarseMann | 2 years ago
2 likes

I'm not sure Mr. Loophole intended this, but he's managed via this petition to create a map of the UK showing the cyclist hating hot spots. If you live in Sutton & Cheam, you have my sympathy...

https://petitionmap.unboxedconsulting.com/?petition=585474&area=uk

Avatar
Hirsute | 2 years ago
0 likes

Radio 4's Today is talking about registration between 0810 and 0900 today.
Cue complaints !

Avatar
Mungecrundle replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
1 like

Poor spokesman for the pro cycle side of the argument. Nick Freeman, a man who makes a fat living in getting the rich and famous off serious driving charges, how can you not call him out as the ultimate hypocrit when it comes to road safety?

This was an opportunity missed to tear these stupid cycle licencing and registration bib arguments to shreds on national radio.

Avatar
Sriracha replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
1 like

So R4 gives the first word and the last word to Freeman. And the person speaking for the other side can scarcely string a sentence together, through nerves? Failed to challenge Freeman's assertion of thousands of injuries caused by cyclists on pavements, failed to question why cyclists would even want to cycle amongst pedestrians rather than on the road, failed to question whether the rules of the road (and infra as well, but obviously NF is concerned about rules) need to be examined for how they can be changed to make cyclists less vulnerable.

Avatar
Jem PT | 2 years ago
4 likes

This tw@t really doesn't get it, does he?

Cyclists, have a RIGHT to use the roads, like horse-riders, and others users of non-mechanised convenyances. In the same way that pedestrians have a right to use pavements.

People who drive mechanical vehicles do so by LICENCE. The difference, legally is massive. He is proposing to restrict civil liberties - good luck with that!

And as we all know, licencing car drivers really does not stop dangerous/illegal driving.

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Hirsute replied to Jem PT | 2 years ago
2 likes

He gets that this sort of thing will get him publicity and hence work for his firm.

Perhaps in the style of private eye, I should cancel my subscription here in protest.

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MarkiMark | 2 years ago
1 like

Isn't that Matt Damon from Team America?

Shameless self promotion.

 

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hmas1974 | 2 years ago
1 like

I'm signing.  The logistics of implementing such a scheme will be cost prohibitive with no material benefit and I'm looking forward to this petition being dismantled piece by piece.

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Muddy Ford | 2 years ago
4 likes

I'd vote a petition to have Nick Freemans solicitors licence revoked on the basis that his entire business model is based on keeping dangerous drivers on the road. But that's probably what he is hoping someone will do as it will garner even more free advertising for his vile firm.

Avatar
Jenova20 replied to Muddy Ford | 2 years ago
4 likes
Muddy Ford wrote:

I'd vote a petition to have Nick Freemans solicitors licence revoked on the basis that his entire business model is based on keeping dangerous drivers on the road. But that's probably what he is hoping someone will do as it will garner even more free advertising for his vile firm.

Good lawyer. Terrible person. He's doing what he's supposed to do, and he's good at it. I just wish he's stop lobbying against cyclists. Also, someone should fix the loopholes he's exploiting (if they haven't already).

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MattieKempy | 2 years ago
4 likes

What a c***

You can fill the blanks yourself, depending on your level of disgust.

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FrankH | 2 years ago
7 likes
Mr Freeman wrote:

Cycle lanes can be safer yet are often not-used.

They can also be more dangerous

Mr Freeman wrote:

A licence scheme and penalty points system should ensure responsible cycling and e-scooter use.

Which is why we have such law-abiding, responsible drivers. Obvious when you think about it.

Avatar
Hirsute replied to FrankH | 2 years ago
0 likes

https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/19358582.colchester-spin-e-scooter-r...

Part of the trial and so has a driving licence...

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Tom_77 | 2 years ago
9 likes

Sports Casual, a classic look.

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Kendalred | 2 years ago
11 likes

If he's so concerned about road safety, perhaps he should stop facilitating bad drivers escaping punishment? The hypocrisy is staggering.

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brooksby replied to Kendalred | 2 years ago
2 likes

Yeah, but he needs to get good haircuts.  And those jumpers don't pay for themselves...

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PRSboy | 2 years ago
9 likes

Nick Freeman, proving that watch size is a reliable indicator of twattishness.

Maybe there should be a petition about that.  Licence people with big watches on the basis that they are likely to be idiots.

Avatar
peted76 replied to PRSboy | 2 years ago
14 likes

'I have considerably larger patio door handles and watches than yow. '

(For those of a certain age who remember Harry Enfield, I find myself explaining upon the realisation that, the 'joke' is now thirty years old and probably deserves to be forgotten about now.)

Avatar
PRSboy replied to peted76 | 2 years ago
4 likes
peted76 wrote:

'I have considerably larger patio door handles and watches than yow. '

(For those of a certain age who remember Harry Enfield, I find myself explaining upon the realisation that, the 'joke' is now thirty years old and probably deserves to be forgotten about now.)

On the contrary... my parents' neighbour is the absolute incarnation of Stanley!

Avatar
Jem PT replied to PRSboy | 2 years ago
0 likes
PRSboy wrote:
peted76 wrote:

'I have considerably larger patio door handles and watches than yow. '

(For those of a certain age who remember Harry Enfield, I find myself explaining upon the realisation that, the 'joke' is now thirty years old and probably deserves to be forgotten about now.)

On the contrary... my parents' neighbour is the absolute incarnation of Stanley!

And my sons are both Kevins!

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to PRSboy | 2 years ago
3 likes
PRSboy wrote:

Nick Freeman, proving that watch size is a reliable indicator of twattishness.

Ditto knotting your jumper round your neck - especially when sitting in your own house!

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Hirsute replied to PRSboy | 2 years ago
3 likes

It's LICENSE

//xidez1d91s02owx7dscnb410-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/ivan-pavlov-and-dogs.jpg)

 

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swldxer replied to Hirsute | 2 years ago
0 likes

In the USA it's license, but "licence" in UK English.

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TheBillder replied to swldxer | 2 years ago
0 likes

Noun vs verb. Works in the same way as advise vs advice.

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Jetmans Dad replied to TheBillder | 2 years ago
1 like
TheBillder wrote:

Noun vs verb. Works in the same way as advise vs advice.

Indeed. I am licensed to drive. 

vs

I have a licence to drive. 

What were we talking about again?

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Hirsute replied to swldxer | 2 years ago
0 likes

The post was not about a driver's licence though was it.

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Captain Badger replied to swldxer | 2 years ago
0 likes
swldxer wrote:

In the USA it's license, but "licence" in UK English.

Is that you? Never thought of you as "Sarah"...

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to Captain Badger | 2 years ago
1 like
Captain Badger wrote:
swldxer wrote:

In the USA it's license, but "licence" in UK English.

Is that you? Never thought of you as "Sarah"...

The hairstyle looks similar

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AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
8 likes

I still don't get why if you commit a crime in your car, you get away scott free if not told you were caught within 14 days and if you kill someone in your car, you get away scott free if not charged in 6 months?

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BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP | 2 years ago
1 like

What is so moronic about this proposal (and Talksport attracts plenty of morons for sure) is that you would have to licence the person and not the rider. So I have 5 bikes. Would i need a different hi viz tabard with registration number on the back for each bike? To wear accordingly. Would the children need a hi viz / registration tabard for their bikes? And when I sell the children's bike would I sell the hi viz with it? Would there be a log book? 

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