- New campaign urges public to buy safe e-bikes and e-scooters and avoid rogue online sellers
- E-bike and e-scooter causing fires every two days according to London Fire Brigade
- New Product Regulation Bill beginning work to tackle dangerous goods sold online
A new safety campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of buying faulty and unsafe e-bikes, e-scooters and components such as batteries has been launched today (Thursday 24 October).
The Department for Business & Trade's new "Buy Safe, Be Safe" campaign has been designed to urge the public to buy safe e-bikes and e-scooters and avoid rogue online sellers.
E-bikes can be a cheap, healthy and modern method of travel throughout our towns and cities. However, unsafe e-bikes have resulted in hundreds of deadly fires and injured dozens of people across the UK. In 2023, the London Fire Brigade a fire every two days as a result of e-bike and e-scooter-related fires.
Many of these fires are caused by parts incompatible with e-bikes and scooters, as well as the purchase of defective or poorly manufactured parts sold by rogue online sellers.
The campaign focuses on three key areas encouraging consumers to only buy safe products from reputable sellers, only replace items with products recommended by the manufacturer and finally to seek professional help when converting or repairing e-bikes and e-scooters.
The Department is partnering with retailers, manufacturers as well as online marketplaces, trade associations, consumer groups and businesses to promote the campaign.
