London e-bike scheme to add number plates in effort to curb dangerous riders
One-third of the 1,500 Forest e-bikes in Richmond will receive five-digit number plates so police can quickly identify riders involved in incidents.
Police records show almost 39,000 e-bike incidents across England in the past three years, prompting Forest to retrofit roughly a third of its 1,500-bike Richmond fleet with visible number plates. Each plate will carry the bike’s existing five-digit ID, enabling rapid matching of a rider to an offence when the number is reported. About 500 plates have already been installed, and riders who repeatedly break the rules could lose access to Forest bikes.
The policy follows several serious accidents, such as Sandy Peters being thrown into a brick wall by a speeding rider and the fatal crash that killed 86-year-old Gloria Stephenson after a teenage rider collided with her on a zebra crossing. Police forces also link e-bikes to violent, drug-related and sexual offences, underscoring the safety concerns driving the new identification system.
