E-scooters have been banned from Cheltenham Festival this week after police said drunken racegoers had caused trouble trying to use them at last year's event.
The four-day event - the biggest on the horse racing calendar - kicked off on Tuesday, with Mike and Zara Tindall, as well as Carol Vorderman, among some of the famous faces enjoying the Champion Day festivities.
Racegoers will be able to help themselves to pints of Guinness this year thanks to new self-serve tap walls, with an estimated 220,000 pints of the famous Irish stout expected to be consumed during the festival.
Concerns were raised by Gloucestershire Police that tipsy attendees using e-scooters to travel to and from the racecourse would “create all sorts of accidents”, prompting the local council to ban their use until Saturday.
Recalling the antics of last year’s festival-goers, Chris Nelson, Gloucestershire Police and Crime Commissioner, told the BBC: "I saw people, and they were clearly intoxicated, getting on these things, more than one person, and then scooting down Evesham Road weaving in and out of the public."
He described the sight of a “whole load of e-scooters” parked outside the racecourse last year as a “hostage to fortune”.
The trial of e-scooters by Gloucestershire County Council, in partnership with the Department for Transport, is now being suspended from March 14 until March 17.
And disappointed racegoers may be left looking for another way to get to the festival this week, as e-scooters had been advertised as “the quickest way to get to Cheltenham Races”, with a parking bay located next to the racecourse.
E-scooter company Zwings, which launched in the town in autumn 2020, had updated its website to include a guide explaining how to get to Cheltenham Festival on an e-scooter.
Promising festival-goers they could travel to the racecourse within 10 minutes of arriving in Cheltenham, the company wrote: “With traffic typically a nightmare during Festival week, our e-scooters are the fastest means of getting to the Festival site, while also offering a more sustainable option.”
Zwings said that while it was “disappointed” with the council’s decision to lock down the e-scooters, it always seeks to work in collaboration with the council and police.
It insisted there were no incidents during last year’s festival, and that only seven per cent of e-scooter trips had been to or from the racecourse over the four days.
It added that the company had “one of the best safety records of all operators in the UK”.
Sean West, the Deputy Chief Constable of Gloucestershire Police, said the police’s focus was on “keeping people safe” and “preventing injury at the time when our hospitals are otherwise very very busy".
"Any effort to attempt to minimise the impact of that, of course should be an admirable ambition," he told the BBC.
A spokesperson for Gloucestershire County Council said: “After the police raised concerns about the safety of e-scooters used by racegoers, we have decided to suspend the service during race week.
“Alternative proposals to limit the service between the town centre and racecourse were offered by the council to mitigate disruption to existing users, however it was decided a full suspension was required.
“We have informed the operator Zwings and the scooters will remain in their bays, locked down for the duration of the Cheltenham Festival. We apologise to users for the inconvenience caused and a full service will resume on Saturday.”
The Cheltenham Festival will conclude this year on St Patrick’s Day, with the coveted Gold Cup expected to attract thousands of fans.
Last year’s Gold Cup day welcomed 73,800 people, but the Jockey Club has capped daily numbers for this year’s event at 68,500 in order to improve the flow of punters around the track.
The Festival showpiece race could see Ireland secure a fifth straight victory with Galopin Des Champs, the favourite ahead of defending champion A Plus Tard, who strode to victory last year with jockey Rachael Blackmore.
