Business owner bills Lime £7,600 over parking row, after seizing e-bikes left on his property and taking operator to court

Lime has been ordered to pay a London business owner £7,690 after he began seizing e-bikes left on his property, charged the operator removal and storage charges, hired bailiffs to chase up invoices, and ultimately took the hire bike company to court over the parking row.

Russell Gray owns a building firm based out of Bermondsey Street in London and told The Times how he had begun a “removal policy” after becoming frustrated with Lime and other operators’ hire bikes being left on his business’s private driveway, something he said was blocking access and making deliveries more difficult.

Following a lengthy dispute, Lime was ordered to pay nearly £8,000 to Mr Gray, fellow hire bike operator Forest having also paid him £1,000 immediately when invoiced.

Lime did not offer a defence when the dispute went to court, Mr Gray having charged the dockless e-bike operator a range of fees in relation to its bikes being left on his property.

For example, Mr Gray explained how he charged the company £10 to remove a bike, £10 a day to store a bike, and £50 to return Lime bikes left on his property to one of Lime’s depots. The dispute saw around 30 bikes taken in by the building firm owner, the storage fees racking up as Mr Gray reported being “fobbed off” during initial correspondence.

Mr Gray hired bailiffs in an attempt to get paid for the bikes and was ultimately granted the payment following a county court judgement. Lime visited his premises last week to remove the remaining bikes and said it would look to improve its technology to prevent users leaving their parked rides on his property.

“If I see somebody behaving in a way I think is unreasonable, selfish and remediable, I will take whatever steps are available to remedy it,” Mr Gray told The Times. “I am one of a shrinking crowd of old school people who take matters of principle to their logical conclusion. Most people say, ‘Oh what can I do?’ The courts are your remedy.

“To those who’ve got a similar problem there is a solution. If you’re dealing with Lime the notice is very simple, you write to them and say you’re continuing to park on our land, you haven’t prevented it like you said you would and we are now implementing a charging programme. That will rattle Lime’s cage, if it started to become widespread I am sure it will be responded to with a bit more alacrity.

“If they carry on we will continue to take them. There is no reason we stop now because now I think we have got what is probably an effective tool. It wasn’t effective until they woke up and they took a lot of waking up.”

A spokesperson for Lime said it had “engaged to reach a resolution”. 

“We were made aware of the concerns raised by the landowner and engaged with them to reach a resolution,” the company said in a statement. “Lime takes responsible parking extremely seriously, and we work closely with all London boroughs and private landowners to ensure any Lime vehicles are dealt with appropriately.”

> Ex-UFC announcer assaulted schoolboy over Lime Bike blocking pavement outside £1.6m west London house… before turning up to court on one of the hire bikes

The hire bike parking saga has been long-running, Lime and other operators regularly appealing to the authorities for greater parking provision to meet the soaring demand for hire bikes in London. Last year, Lime launched a £20m plan to clamp down on “obstructive” e-bike parking.

While news stories regularly appear citing residents’ disgust at dockless e-bikes being left on pavements or outside their houses, there have also been complaints when local authorities take steps to provide dedicated cycle parking for hire bikes.

In May, the owner of a popular restaurant in north-west London threatened the local council and hire bike providers Lime and Forest with legal action, claiming that his business has been “besieged” by the e-bikes thanks to the recent installation of a designated parking bay.