Causeway Coast and Glens Council and the PSNI have ‘limited capacity’ to enforce the proper use of e-scooters in pedestrian areas and town centres, councillors have heard.

Council’s Director of Leisure and Development said enforcement was “largely inconsistent and very reactive” due to a lack of specific legislation.

At June’s Leisure and Development Committee meeting, DUP councillor Tanya Elder proposed that Council officers engage with relevant agencies around enforcement, safety and awareness, and appropriate signage for e-scooters and similar devices.

She also requested a report on Council’s “powers and partnership options to improve pedestrian safety”.

Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council and the PSNI have “limited capacity” to enforce the proper use of e-scooters in pedestrian areas and town centres, councillors have heard.

placeholder image — Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council and the PSNI have “limited capacity” to enforce the proper use of e-scooters in pedestrian areas and town centres, councillors have heard.

Councillor Elder said residents have been raising concerns “day in day out” around e-scooters on pedestrian areas and in town centres.

While they are useful modes of transport, she said, there have been multiple reports of excessive speed, near misses and “people feeling really unsafe walking around”.

She suggested Council work with partners to ensure the safety of older people, children and those with mobility issues.

Director of Leisure and Development, Pat Mulvenna, said enforcement was “an incredibly complex process” due to a lack of specific legislation.

Councillor Elder proposed council engagement with relevant agencies around enforcement, safety and awareness, and appropriate signage for e-scooters

“Obviously the police are working on this issue at a regional level in terms of legislation,” she added.

“In terms of council enforcement powers, those really need to be probably looked at in terms of existing bylaws, which we don’t believe are particularly helpful and are very difficult to enforce.

“This is an issue which is being addressed by the PCSP (Policing and Community Safety Partnerships) and they have had an awareness-raising campaign that has been exceptionally successful, [but] the main challenges are that there’s no specific e-scooter legislation.

“They are treated as vehicles and are supposed to be insured and taxed, but that legal route doesn’t really exist either as far as I’m aware, so enforcement is largely inconsistent and very reactive to given circumstances.

“We have limited capacity, both PSNI and ourselves, in terms of enforcement. So, yeah, just a very complex issue.”

DUP councillor Darryl Wilson noted there were over 1,500 casualties and ten deaths across the UK last year, and asked if Council could ban inappropriate e-scooter use at parks, leisure centres and other Council-owned areas.

Ms Mulvenna said she would explore the feasibility of such bans and return a report to committee.

Sinn Féin councillor Cara McShane said she has been “inundated” with issues in Ballycastle town centre, while UUP councillor John Wisener said he was passed by 20 e-scooters in one evening in Coleraine.

“It’s just getting worse and worse,” he said. “Five went past me on the Castlerock Road footpath, while three passed me on the Ballycairn Road, stopped, and gave me abuse.

“It is a police problem and an enforcement problem, and if it was a car without insurance the car would be seized, so maybe the question to the PSNI should be: ‘How many of these have been seized?'”

Head of Service for Community & Culture Julie Welsh said the PSNI can issue fines, penalty points and fixed penalty notices.

She concluded: “So in the absence of any e-scooter legislation, there are a number of avenues open to [PSNI], but I think a lot of people are confused in relation to what is the law on the issue, so there is a lot of work to be done.”