Electric scooters are illegal in the UK because of 1835 law

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in
2011.
Getty

• A 183-year-old law originally designed to regulate
  horse-drawn carriages is partly responsible for preventing
  buzzy Silicon Valley scooter startups from expanding to the
  UK.
• The 1835 Highways Act prevents cattle, horses, and
  “carriages” — like scooters — from riding the
  pavement.
• Two startups, Bird and Lime, have been in talks with UK
  regulators about bringing electric scooter hire to London, but
  can’t launch unless the laws change.
• They have a chance to influence the law, however,
  because the British government is currently examining whether
  transport regulation might be getting in the way of
  innovation.

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Electric scooter startups are spreading across the US, and
raising billions of dollars in venture capital as investors pile
into the boom in on-demand transport.

The idea is simple: Startups such as Bird, Lime, Jump, and Spin
leave their electric scooters available for hire all over a city.
Anyone wanting to use one can find one nearby via an app,
“unlock” it with the app, then hire it for a small fee per
minute. Once they reach their destination, they can leave the
scooter anywhere.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

But not in the UK.

Electric scooters are illegal on public UK streets and pavements,
meaning Bird and its rivals would be flouting the law if they
tried to launch in Britain. And that’s partly thanks to a
183-year-old act originally designed to stop nuisance behaviour
from horse-drawn carriage drivers, and those driving cattle.

The UK government
categorises electric scooters as “carriages,” which are not
permitted on pavements under the 1835 Highways Act. Here’s the
specific passage banning animals and “carriages” from footpaths:

“If any person shall wilfully ride upon any footpath or causeway
by the side of any road made or set apart for the use or
accommodation of foot passengers; or shall wilfully lead or drive
any horse, ass, sheep, mule, swine, or cattle or carriage of any
description, or any truck or sledge, upon any such footpath or
causeway; or shall tether any horse, ass, mule, swine, or cattle,
on any highway, so as to suffer or permit the tethered animal to
be thereon.”

It might sound like something from a Charles Dickens novel, but
this is genuinely enshrined in British legislation.

And what about electric scooters on roads?

That’s still (mostly) illegal, because the government requires
scooter owners to register their vehicles with the DVLA, the UK’s
driving authority. And in order to pass the DVLA’s strict
requirements, a scooter would need to have three wheels (most
operate with two), and be fitted with brakes and lights. That
rules out most popular types of scooter.

These regulations have floored American scooter startups trying
to expand to the UK, according to emails
released to Business Insider last week under the Freedom of
Information Act.

“[The] legislation that is in effect is +100 years old,”
complained Bird’s UK head Richard Corbett in an email to
Transport for London, the capital’s transport regulator.

Bird’s European boss Patrick Studener wrote that the laws might
need changing. “We fully appreciate that this might require
reviewing the laws mentioned dating as far back as 1835 and any
other relevant ones and how they impact innovation,” he wrote.
“[Things] hopefully [have] moved into a better direction versus
183 years ago.”

An email from Bird
executive Patrick Studener to London’s transport
authority.
Shona Ghosh/Business
Insider

Bird, Lime, and other startups do have a shot at changing the law

A spokesman for Transport for London said there was no way Bird,
Lime, or other US electric scooter startups could launch legally
in the UK under the current legislation. That would be up to the
Department for Transport.

A Department for Transport spokesman didn’t comment but pointed
Business Insider to the department’s
new consultation around new forms of transport, launched at
the end of July.

The Future of Mobility consultation will examine new methods of
transport — including electric scooters — and consider how the
UK’s infrastructure might adapt to these new technologies.

Specifically, part of the consultation addresses how current UK
law might need to change.

The Department for Transport

David Metz, honorary professor in the Centre for Transport
Studies at UCL and former chief scientist to the Department for
Transport, told Business Insider this would probably give the
likes of Bird the chance to argue for changes in the law.

“If electric scooters proved popular and acceptable in other
countries, their proponents might make a case for amending the
legislation,” he told Business Insider via email. “The scooter
companies might take the opportunity to make their case. One
approach would be to argue for amending legislation to permit
trials of innovative technologies, as is the case for [driverless
cars].”

Metz’s comments suggest that Bird and its rivals might eventually
be successful in launching pilot schemes in the UK — but for now,
the cattle rules still rule.