E-scooter idiots think they are above the rules - it's time the Government put a stop to their lawle

April 30, 2024

THERE are plenty of things I love about the Manchester suburb where I live, and one of them is not having to contend with terrifying e-scooters.

You’re more likely to catch sight of Santa on his sleigh.

But every week I go to London for work and realise how these eco-friendly vehicles are taking over. And causing absolute mayhem.

A couple of months ago I witnessed a grown man tootling along at speed on the pavement on his e-scooter.

With noise-eradicating earbuds squished in his ear, he looked as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

People were dodging out of his path and one woman even had to step into a busy road to avoid a collision. I was appalled.

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Only e-scooters that are part of government-approved rental trial schemes are allowed to be used on public roads within the trial zones throughout the country.

You can buy your own scooter but it can only be used on private land with the permission of the land owner.

But that is where the problem lies: The rules. They are — clearly — being regularly broken and the police aren’t policing them.

And this week the ludicrous landmark case of Giovanna Drago highlighted that.

It shows that people are not only getting away with illegally using e-scooters but want us to pay up when they come a cropper.

The 22-year-old was riding hers illegally and broke her left knee when her new £558 Xiaomi Mi Pro 2 hit a pothole in Barnet, North London, two years ago.

At a hearing at Central London County Court she said it took 20 months to fully recover from her injuries and she still has a painful, four-inch scar and “muscle-wasting” around the knee.

So she is suing the local council for failing to maintain its roads. Poor, law-breaking Giovanna said she had no chance to avoid the pothole because it was dusk and difficult to see.

Pavements will be like the Wild West

Unsurprisingly, the council argued her claim should be rejected because she had caused her own injury by riding an e-scooter illegally. Too right!

Her argument is that she was unaware she was breaking the law when she took the scooter on the road. She had ridden it only twice before her crash. She now wants to be compensated from public funds.

It angers me that this costly case ever got to court. As barrister Geoffrey Mott pointed out: “The injury was the consequence of her own unlawful acts.

“Ms Drago’s wrongdoing has clearly caused her own loss.”

A survey last year showed that 52 per cent of road users do not know the laws surround- ing e-scooters, 29 per cent thought private e-scooters can be used in public, and 16 per cent on the pavement.

Surely, if you own a vehicle, you should have to know the rules.

Those who sell and rent out e-scooters, and those who buy them and hire them, should all be told what you can and cannot do with them.

Ignorance may be bliss but it certainly isn’t an excuse.

If I knocked back wine, got into my car and broke my nose after crashing into a wall because of a pothole, could I really sue the council, claiming I didn’t know I was over the limit?

I truly hope not. But what is the real difference?

Bikes, cars, lorries — and e-scooters — all need to adhere to the rules on the road.

We need those laws and we need deterrents from the police and the courts or soon our streets and pavements will be like the Wild West.

We don’t need people driving illegally then taking councils to court.
Judge Jan Luba adjourned the two-day hearing before lawyers’ final submissions.

I hope for everybody’s sake she makes the right decision, else the e-scooter idiots who don’t know the law will keep breaking it.

Royal good viewing

WOULDN’T you love to be a fly on the wall at Sandringham this Christmas.

The chat around the table will be amazing.

You’ve got Mike Tindall facing the family after parading around in his pants on I’m A Celeb and telling the world he “sl*tdropped” in front of mother-in-law Princess Anne.

Then you’ve got disgraced Andrew for entertainment. Plus celebrity guest Fergie, who was blacklisted by Prince Philip but welcomed back by a forgiving King Charles.

Luckily, they’ll have so much to catch up on that they won’t need to turn on Netflix and watch the US branch of the family slagging them all off.

Doctor on call is norm

A HUGE fuss has been made this week because a GP is treating patients at her practice from her home 265 miles away.

Dr Justine Hall is working remotely from Falmouth, Cornwall, using telephone and video appointments to cover patients at the Rudgwick Medical Centre in Horsham, West Sussex.

One patient said it was “outrageous”.

Rudgwick Medical Centre said it supported remote working. And there are two doctors there who can still see people face to face.

This scenario is dreadful. But it’s the state we are in. NHS figures last week showed that 1,900 of 6,000 GP practices in England still hold fewer than half their appointments in person, so what is the real difference?

There is currently a shortage of around 4,200 full-time-equivalent GPs. That’s expected to double within a decade.

The last time I got an appointment (also known as a phone call) for my three-year-old son it was with a cold and unsympathetic locum.

Dr Hall could obviously have moved to a new local practice. But she may not have been replaced for months.

And surely her elderly and vulnerable patients would prefer to hear the voice of a familiar doctor on the end of the phone than a complete stranger - when many appointments are by phone and video anyway.

Obviously everyone should be entitled to see their local GP in person but in the current climate the chances of that are very small.

As harsh as it is we all need to be grateful for what we can get right now - even if it is a long distance relationship.

Ole smoke, Em looks Spanish

CONGRATULATIONS to Emma Raducanu, who accepted an MBE for services to sport on Tuesday.

She usually looks so glamorous, but I couldn’t help thinking she looked a bit like a Spanish matador.

Kennedy spends his winnings

EX-FOOTBALLER Terry Kennedy, whose brilliant reaction to winning £1million on the Lottery went viral, has now shared snaps of him globetrotting with his partner.

Terry, 29, who was once a team-mate of Harry Maguire’s but was forced into retirement by a knee injury in 2016, has spent the past year in Tokyo, New Zealand, Hawaii, Mexico and Turkey.

How brilliant – and how honest. I can’t stand people who claim winning the Lottery won’t change them and say they’re going to stay in their grotty old house and work nine to five in their mundane job for ever. Ridiculous.

Good on you Terry. Spend it. Enjoy yourself.

Kan kids spoiled

SO Kanye West has been told to give his millionaire wife £167,000 per MONTH in child support for their four kids.

Can you imagine how spoiled those kids must be?

Cringe benefit

I DON’T know who I feel more sorry for, Ed Sheeran or Gina Coladangelo.

After shamed MP Matt Hancock left the I’m A Celeb jungle, he serenaded his girlfriend with Ed’s song Perfect.