An Open Letter To The Prime Minister

As the government develops its legislative programme for the next parliamentary session, Pure Electric’s founder Adam Norris, has written an open letter to the Prime Minister to highlight the major opportunity in front of his Government to provide millions of people across the UK with a more affordable, low-carbon, choice of transport.  

Dear Prime Minister,

I am writing to you to highlight the major opportunity to dramatically lower carbon emissions, improve air quality, and make travel more accessible for millions of people across the country. As the founder of Pure Electric, the UK’s leading electric bike and electric scooter specialist, I want to make the case to you directly, for the government to act now on legalisation and regulation of privately owned e-scooters.

In our neighbouring European countries, the legalisation and regulation of privately owned e-scooters has fundamentally changed the travel landscape across major cities including Barcelona and Paris. While in the UK, people are being prevented from accessing a more affordable, convenient mode of transport at a time when the cost of commuting is surging. 

Privately owned e-scooters have the power to be transformational, and facilitating their safe use on the public highway has the potential to:

  • Reduce reliance on cars, helping ease congestion and improving local air quality in towns and cities across the UK
  • Reduce the cost of commuting, particularly benefitting those on the lowest incomes
  • Be complementary to the government’s efforts to increase participation in active travel, attracting a new cohort of riders who wouldn’t otherwise cycle

To see these benefits, we need to establish and implement a robust regulatory framework that protects all road users, riders and pedestrians.

As a responsible retailer, Pure Electric continues to work closely with government to address the use of private e-scooters on the public highway. We also work with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and have taken significant steps both in-store and online to ensure that our advertising does not encourage or endorse illegal e-scooter use.

Despite our best efforts, the tide of consumer demand for affordable, low emission, highly convenient transport is resulting in people making the informed choice to use private e-scooters on the public highway. Our concern is that the lack of regulation and the significant variation in product design – some e-scooters being much safer than others – means that public safety is at risk. The only effective and progressive solution is legalisation and regulation.

As the government develops its legislative programme for the next parliamentary session, my team and I are ready to work with your government to design an ambitious regulatory framework that builds on the best elements from regimes in countries that have already legalised e-scooters. In our view this framework should include:

  • A requirement for all privately owned e-scooters to have number plates, allowing law enforcement agencies to identify riders and enforce regulations
  • Mandatory insurance for all e-scooter riders
  • Product approval for all e-scooters to prove compliance including defined speed limits, two independent braking systems, lights and side reflectors, and a minimum wheel size of 9.5 inches
  • Introduction of a code of conduct in safe use

We look forward to working with you to make this a reality.

Yours sincerely,

Adam Norris

Founder of Pure Electric