At a glance
• Westminster Council has started issuing £100 on-the-spot fines to Lime and Forest for e-bikes left blocking pavements or public spaces
• The council says fines are more effective than impounding bikes and help to target hotspot areas such as Soho Square and Berkeley Square
• E-bike firms blame limited parking space amid record demand, arguing that more dedicated bays are needed
A London council has begun issuing on-the-spot £100 penalty tickets to Lime and Forest for e-bikes found abandoned on the pavement.
Westminster Council says the radical new approach has resulted in 150 fines being emailed direct to the firms since last week – putting it on course to raise £1 million a year.
The Labour-run council believes issuing fixed penalty notices will be more effective in tackling the problem of dumped dockless e-bikes than having its staff seize and impound the battery-powered cycles.
It comes as London Councils, the organisation that represents all 33 of the capital’s boroughs, said that contracts between e-bike firms and councils were being “flouted”, leaving e-bikes strewn across pavements, including in areas where firms did not have permission to operate.
Earlier this week the Standard revealed how Kensington and Chelsea Council had seized 1,000 dockless e-bikes since the start of the year, many of them abandoned on pavements near Harrods in Knightsbridge. This has generated more than £81,000 for the council in “release fees”.
Now neighbouring Westminster told the Standard of its change of tactics as the tension between e-bike firms – and the many thousands of Londoners who ride their bikes – and local authorities showed no sign of abating.
Max Sullivan, Westminster Council’s cabinet member for streets, has written to Lime chief executive Wayne Ting and Forest chief executive Agustin Guilisasti informing them that fines were being issued where bikes were found “blocking pavements, doorways or other public space” rather than in designated on-street parking bays.
It is thought that Westminster is the first council in the country to use powers under the Highways Act 1980 in this way.
“Hotspot” problem areas in Westminster include Soho Square and Berkeley Square. Councillors say blind people being forced to walk in the road because their guide dogs cannot get round the bikes.
Mr Sullivan warned Lime and Forest that the £100 penalties would continue to be issued “for as long as the problem remains”.
He said: “I anticipate that our officers will issue 50 fixed penalty notices per day to dockless e-bike companies, amounting to more than £1 million in fines over the course of the next year.
“We will reinvest any surplus from this enforcement activity back into making our streets safer and more accessible to all.
“Even a small percentage of your bikes, when badly parked, can turn many pavements into obstacle courses. Our officers have told you the hotspots where these issues persist.”
Lime recently announced £111 million in revenue from its UK operations last year. It has been in London for seven years, where it dominates the e-bike hire market.
This year it has helped to fund more than 1,000 new bays across the capital as part of its effort to solve the problem of where its bikes should be parked.
A Lime spokeswoman said: “Record demand for our service has led to challenges with more bikes being parked in central London than there is dedicated available space for.
“We’re working to address this through our London action plan, with more investment in dedicated parking bays and our increased on-street team responding to tidy misparked bikes and overcrowded bays faster than ever.
"While only a very small minority of total trips in Westminster result in a misparked bike, we will continue to warn, fine and ban riders who do not follow parking rules and are investing in new technology and rider education to improve parking behaviour.
“We share the council’s goal of maintaining high standards for public space and are committed to working with them to prevent the need for further enforcement.”
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Westminster is frustrated that so many e-bikes continue to be badly parked, despite having created 380 on-street parking bays since 2022.
Mr Sullivan added: “Shared ebikes have great potential, which is why we’ve created 380 proper places to park them – where most rides end. But real issues persist, and we won’t allow the private profit of shared ebike companies to come at the expense of the public accessibility and safety of our streets.”
The council will prioritise cases where bikes are found on the pavement or road, or in resident parking pays or taxi ranks.
But the bike firms say that, with an estimated 50,000 dockless bikes available for hire in central and inner London, more parking bays are needed.
There are concerns within the industry that parking bays are not keeping pace with the soaring demand from Londoners to travel by hired e-bike.
The English Devolution Bill will allow Transport for London to set up a capital-wide licensing scheme for dockless e-bikes. However, new rules are unlikely to be introduced for at least a year.
London Councils said that some bike firms were “continuing to operate with impunity” in areas where they do not hold a contract.
Lime and Voi recently won a new contract in Hackney. In Hounslow, Lime lost the right to park its bikes – though a deal was recently struck to allow them to be ridden through the borough.
Brenda Dacres, London Councils’ executive member for transport and environment, said: “Boroughs are committed to supporting active travel, but that must go hand in hand with accountability and respect for local agreements.
“These contracts exist to protect residents and public space, while ensuring riders get a reliable, affordable service.
“We want operators to be partners in building a sustainable, safe network for e-bikes in London, and we will continue our hard work in ensuring residents and riders are at the heart of this.”
Alex Berwin, head of policy at Forest, said: “Over the last four years we have made a significant investment in London and we’re proud to operate across 18 boroughs, enabling more people than ever before to cycle in our city.
“We’re committed to upholding our agreements with local councils and maintaining high standards across every borough. This includes identifying high-demand areas to expand approved parking, deploying foot patrols to maintain tidiness, and sharing data with councils to support better investment in parking infrastructure.
“We’re aware of the challenges that come with the rising demand for e-bikes and the growth of this increasingly popular form of transport. This is exactly why we have been calling for a pan-London approach to regulation.
“London needs a single regulatory framework, one enforcement model, and one operational rulebook. This will get more people moving in ways that promote healthier, sustainable lifestyles and ease congestion, whilst ensuring services support the local needs of each borough.”
