This morning (13 June 2023) Marc Folgate appeared on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire’s Dotty McLeod show to discuss some legal aspects of the present craze for electric scooters. There is evidently much confusion over the issue. However, the law is pretty clear at present, namely that the use of non-authorised electric scooters on roads, pavements and in public places is presently illegal. There is a very useful guidance note issued by the Metropolitan Police on the subject, with a link below:
https://www.met.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/rs/road-safety/advice-escooters/
So, unless you live in an area such as Cambridge which has a designated scheme through an approved rental provider, and you are riding such a rental electric scooter, you are presently breaking the law by using an electric scooter anywhere apart from on private land.
Where does personal injury litigation interact with this?
To put it quite simply, people are at risk from the use of electric scooters, both to themselves as riders and to those around them, such as pedestrians.
If you are tempted to take a non-approved electric scooter out, have a think about this. Unlike the approved rental electric scooters which cover you for insurance automatically, you do not hold cover. That means that anybody injured by you would have a potential claim for damages against you and you would not hold cover to protect you from the financial consequences. The cost of that could be disastrous. Given that tens of thousand of people each year are said to be injured by cyclists using just pedal power the scope for injuries caused by electric scooters is vast.
Checked your insurance to see if you are covered whilst using pedal power? Marc now has.