Labour Westminster Council has introduced £100 on-the-spot fines to dockless bike companies for e-bikes dumped on pavements and roads.
Westminster Council has written to dockless bike operators Lime and Forest, setting out its new, tougher approach to dockless e-bike blocking pavements and demanding the bike companies do more to tackle the problem.
At the current rate of issue, fines could reach £1 million within a year.
Since introducing fines last week, the Council has issued 150 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) of £100 each directly to Lime and Forest for dumped bikes that create safety hazards for pedestrians.
At the current rate, the Council estimates it could issue up to 50 FPNs a day and total fines could reach more than £1million within a year. Westminster Council plans to reinvest any surplus from enforcement back into making its streets safer and more accessible.
Westminster is the first council to roll out a comprehensive borough-wide approach of issuing on the spot fines, in contrast to the ‘seize and return’ model. The Council says seizing and storing bikes requires a huge amount of resource, cannot match the scale of the problem, and believes fines are a more direct and effective deterrent.
Despite huge improvements since the introduction of designated parking bays in 2023, the Council is still seeing non-compliance in busy areas such as the West End. There is a particular problem in Soho Square and Berkeley Square, with bike companies lining up bikes next to the parking bays and creating major congestion.
The Council has written to Lime and Forest setting out its expectations, including the rapid removal of obstructing bikes and stronger staffing in hotspot areas.
Councillor Max Sullivan, Cabinet Member for Streets, said:
“People want these rental ebikes parked in bays, not in the way. We are the first council to issue on-the-spot £100 fines to the companies per bike, where they turn pavements into obstacle courses. With this new approach our fines to Lime and Forest could reach £1 million within a year, which we will reinvest in making streets safer and more accessible.
“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.”
Dockless bike hire schemes in England are currently unregulated, and local authorities have limited powers to control where operators can run services or how bikes are parked. Westminster has repeatedly called for proper regulation and welcomes progress in the upcoming English Devolution Bill, which is expected to introduce new powers for councils to license and regulate e-bike and e-scooter hire schemes
