If you’ve been outside lately, you’ve most likely noticed all walks of life zipping around the footpaths and roads on electric scooters.
Staffordshire Police have been clamping down and taking action by seizing and destroying more than a hundred illegally used e-scooters across Tamworth.
Riders caught without valid licences, insurance or the correct entitlement are being dished out fines of up to £300 and six points on their licences.
While initially seen as a more “environmentally friendly way to get around”, there are more people all over the nation who are using them for recreational purposes instead.
This problem is one spreading across Tamworth at a rapid pace, and the council have been receiving many reports of “dangerous riding”, including continual use of e-scooters in places they shouldn’t be used.
In the UK it is stipulated that e-scooters are only to be used in cycle lanes and on the road, excluding motorways.
But there have been many eyewitness accounts of people riding them along the public footpaths in Tamworth.
As these scooters are also classed as ‘motor vehicles’, riders require a full UK driver’s licence or a “category Q entitlement” on their driver’s licence to legally use the scooters.
But the popularity of e-scooters seems to be blossoming much more in youth culture, a study conducted in 2023 shows that the use of e-scooters is predominantly by 18 to 25-year-olds, making up 85% of all e-scooter trips.
