15 Dec London bans e-scooters on transport network due to fire risks
In London, the London Fire Brigade has backed the Transport for London ban on private e-scooters which prevents them from being taken on to the capital’s transport network.
The ban, which came into force at the start of this week, comes off the back of an incident in November which saw an e-scooter catch on fire whilst on a train stopped at an underground station. Although no serious injuries were reported, one passenger did suffer smoke inhalation.
As a result of this incident and other reported fires involving e-scooters, Transport for London (TfL) launched an urgent review. London Fire Brigade supported the review with evidence being provided from its experts.
The topic of the popular mode of transport sparking fires has been a concern with the Brigade for some time. This year firefighters in England have attended more than 50 blazes as a result of e-scooters or e-bikes, in comparison 2020 saw half that amount for the whole year. This prompted London Fire Brigade to issue an urgent safety warning.
Paul Jennings, Assistant Commissioner for Fire Safety, London Fire Brigade, said: “We have growing concerns about the safety of e-scooters and e-bikes due to the amount of fires we are seeing involving them, so we fully support TfL’s ban of private e-scooters on public transport.
“Fires are dangerous and terrifying wherever they happen, but a fire on the transport network has the potential to become very serious very quickly and involve hundreds of people, particularly on trains where evacuation may be challenging, so anything that can be done to mitigate that risk is a positive step.
“We also have concerns around people trying to tackle these fires themselves, thinking the vapours given off are only steam, when they actually contain harmful and toxic gases.”
Just a few weeks ago London Fire Brigade debuted its 999Eye technology which enables emergency services callers to live stream events to help deliver greater situational awareness.