Coventry City Council put the brakes on e-scooter trial
The trial of electric scooters in Coventry has been paused, less than a week since the scheme began.
The scooters went on trial in the city last week (10 September) and Coventry City Council has put the brakes on the scheme after concerns over safety.
Commuters were initially able to access and ride e-scooters within the immediate vicinity of Birmingham and Coventry’s city centre.
However, the introduction of e-scooters to the cities did not come without controversy after TV presenter Emily Hartridge died in an electric scooter accident last year.
After similar incidents, the government decided to crack down on the use of e-scooters but as lockdown was lifted the Department for Transport wanted to encourage people not to use public transport and make way for greener alternatives.
Now, after reported dangerous incidents, the council has pulled the plug on the trial.
A spokesman for Coventry City Council said: "The trial has been introduced to identify the safest way that e-scooters can be used going forward so it’s right to pause the scheme if concerns are being raised."
“The initial take-up has been encouraging but we need to ensure that the safety of all people using the city centre is protected and that the e-scooters are used in the proper way, hence our decision to pause the pilot until systems are improved."
Birmingham City Council have decided to continue the trial, despite an incident in the city centre which caused a women to be injured.
Jonathan Berg, who runs Positively Birmingham walking tours, said he was horrified when his young female assistant guide was "toppled like a tree from behind" on Saturday (Sept 12).
On Saturday, Mr Berg's assistant was knocked over by an e-scooter rider in Birmingham's Centenary Square.
He said: "Luckily this scooter was not going fast. We had several near-misses from very fast machines - people are going to get killed if we do not police this urgently.""The e-scooters have given a green light to everyone who wants to be reckless.""The scooters only started on Thursday and, overall, seem like a great idea but they are not without risk.""When we introduce them into the city, we need to be really careful that we police their introduction in a way that people understand how to use them in an appropriate way."
Birmingham City Council declined to comment and referred enquiries to Transport for West Midlands and Voi.
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