A third-party contractor filmed throwing Lime hire bikes out of a delivery van in London has been sacked.
The footage was widely shared on social media and showed an employee, who the BBC reports was working for a third-party contractor of the hire bike company, throwing bicycles out of a van in Clapham.
It was filmed on Wednesday 22 October, at around 9pm in the evening, the delivery contractor tasked with redistributing Lime’s hire bikes to parking bays. In the video the contractor was seen chucking the bikes into a parking zone on Triangle Place, near Clapham Common.
A local Clapham community account on Instagram shared the video with the caption: “Several Lime vans were seen on Triangle Place last night, with one worker reportedly throwing bikes from the van into the road, damaging parts and leaving them piled up before driving off. Locals counted at least three vans in the area.”
The contractor has been sacked by one of Lime’s third-party contractors.
A spokesperson for the hire bike company commented: “This kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable. Our team was alerted to the incident last week and within 24 hours we had confirmation from our third-party contractor that the individual involved was permanently dismissed.”
Lambeth Council agreed the conduct was “unacceptable”, but placed some responsibility on Lime, suggesting: “We need providers like Lime to step up and work with us to ensure their fleets are properly managed.”
Lime has been integral to London’s cycling boom, enjoying record ride numbers as an increasing number of Londoners turn to two-wheeled transport. During the recent Tube strikes, Lime bike usage was up as much as 74 per cent, with 28 per cent of Londoners saying the Underground disruption has left them more likely to cycle in future.
However, Lime’s soaring popularity has also been accompanied by complaints from some residents over parking issues and hire bikes blocking pavements.
There have also been safety concerns, notably around alleged cases of poorly maintained bikes and common mechanical issues. Last month, cyclists who suffered injuries in crashes, allegedly caused by “faulty” e-bikes, filed 12 compensation claims against Lime, the law firm pursuing the claims telling road.cc it has received even more cases since the publicity over those claims.
5 thoughts on “Worker sacked over video showing Lime hire bikes being hurled out of transport van”
Quote:
I think Lime could reasonably feel that getting the guy fired in less than 24 hours is a pretty reasonable approach to doing exactly that unless Lambeth are planning to loan out the council time machine so they can go back and fire him the day in advance.
I think Lambeth’s point is
I think Lambeth’s point is that the issue of what can be seen in the video shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Lime shouldn’t have outsource their quality control of contractors to the general public. They should put in place robust systems themselves to ensure that this issue – and other issues with Lime bikes e.g. blocking pavements – don’t happen, and that Lime themselves know how things are being done.
Pub bike wrote:
Agreed – but but isn’t that a *key* element of dockless bike share *? It’s about outsourcing costs to the public…
The use of public space for storing of the stuff key to making money ** without payment or usually regulatory oversight. That *is* the business!
* The likes of Lime. I guess there are a few that are mostly subsidised by an (ill-advised) council – IIRC Edinburgh had a short-lived extension to the just-eat sponsored docked bikes. We’ve another one now, let’s see how that does…
** And in cases I’ve checked most of that cash doesn’t actually come from the public paying for rides. Follow the money…
But they didnt sack the
But they didnt sack the contractor, just one of their employees, who probably work on unrealistic targets and insecure employment terms. But why are they allowed to use contractors? They should be managing their bikes with in house employed staff, with proper employment conditions.
I hope they follow up with
I hope they follow up with the police to get a charge of criminal damage, and a claim against the 3rd party.