The newspaper columnist Peter Hitchens has repeated his opposition to e-scooters, describing the use of e-bikes and e-scooters as the biggest and most damaging transport revolution since Dr Richard Beeching destroyed the railways 60 years ago.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Mr Hitchens argued “The liberation of unlicensed, unregistered, fast, heavy motor vehicles on our streets is an enormous policy change, and it has been consciously made and sustained by governments of both big parties. Last week the current Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh, made plain that the Government plans to fully legalise the use of private e-scooters on public roads. This is no surprise.”

He adds “Ms Haigh said electric motor scooters could be a ‘really effective part of an integrated transport strategy’. If so, it is a very bad strategy. It affects millions, mostly for the worse. It is getting bigger all the time. And yet it is not debated.”

He continues: “In the last few years the Transport Ministry has quietly permitted the use, on British roads, of electric motorbikes and of electric motor scooters. 

“In reality, you need no licence to ride them. I’ve seen 12-year-olds on electric hire bikes. And who are the masked bandits, astride those souped-up 40mph Hells Angel-type machines? They do not have numberplates.

“So their riders, using surprisingly powerful motors capable of high speeds, can do what they want and never get caught or punished. This is a step into the Third World, where such lawless, dangerous chaos is common.”

Mr Hitchens explained his position on a Highways Voices podcast that you can listen to here (starts 3m30s in):

(File picture – Met Police)