Number plates should be introduced on the back of bikes to stop so many cyclists being a danger on London’s streets, a former Met Police chief suggested.
Lord Hogan-Howe pushed the idea during a debate in the Lords on regulating pedicabs which is going to happen under a new bill following a lengthy campaign by Cities of London and Westminster MP Nickie Aiken.
He told the Upper Chamber: “If we learn any lessons about holding pedicab drivers and owners to account, could we consider whether we take those lessons and apply them to cyclists?
“I fear that my list of people who are dangerous is longer than just people who have electric scooters and electrically charged cycles.
“I fear that cyclists, particularly in London, seem to be entirely unaccountable.
“Even having a registration plate somewhere on the back would not be a bad idea to make sure that people are held to account and it is not totally without consequences if they choose to ignore things that are meant to keep us all safe.
“On occasion they have terribly injured people, and on some occasions killed them.”
The Pedicabs (London) Bill will “correct a long-standing anomaly, where pedicabs are the only form of unregulated transport operating on the streets of London”, new transport minister Lord Davies of Gower explained.
The Bill aims to tackle problems caused by unregulated pedicabs such as extortionate fares, loud music at night, traffic congestion, blocking of pavements and cycle lanes, as well as safety concerns around unchecked vehicles and unvetted drivers.
However, former Tory minister Lord Blencathra branded this a “trivial little measure” compared to the threat posed by e-scooters, citing 25 deaths and 100 serious injuries over the past four years.
He said: “I want to amend this Bill to ban all e-scooters in England from any public highway, including pavements, and give police powers to immediately confiscate any they find in use on public roads.
“All rental e-scooter trials should cease immediately and greater penalties imposed on cyclists on pavements, especially if they’re commercial couriers.”
However, he also threw his support behind the crux of the Bill, arguing that pedicabs are “noisy, garish and hold up traffic”, and “bring this aspect of London into disrepute”.
Transport minister Lord Davies explained that the Bill will allow TfL to implement a licensing regime of pedicabs, operators and drivers to regulate around safety standards, driver vetting, fares, insurance, and other issues.
Stressing why the legislation is needed, he said: “Unscrupulous pedicab operators are the cause of nightly misery.
“There are those responsible for noise pollution by blasting loud music at all hours of the night, making pavements hazardous by congregating in large groups to block footpaths, endangering other road users and pedestrians alike, by cycling recklessly using potentially unsafe vehicles and generally operating in a way that is not in keeping with the image London projects to the world.
“This Bill will equip Transport for London with the tools it needs to tackle the antisocial, unsafe and nuisance behaviours found in the pedicab industry.”
The Bill received a lot of support from across the House, including Tory peer Baroness Stowell of Beeston who said: “These vehicles, as things stand, need no insurance. There are no police or criminal record checks on the drivers. They can hang around in gangs wherever they want, blocking pavements, sometimes threatening in their behaviour.
“Some pedicab drivers have been involved in criminal activity and the lack of registration of them or the vehicle owners make them quite useful to organised criminal gangs.
“They drive recklessly the wrong way up one-way streets, I’ve also seen them on pavement, and their involvement in hit and run incidents is not uncommon. And, of course, without the need for vehicle safety checks, some are unfit to be on the roads.
“Pedicabs can charge passengers whatever they want and there’s plenty of evidence of them ripping off tourists.
“Then there’s the sheer nuisance and disturbance many cause to local businesses and residents from the excessively loud music they play. And when I say loud, I mean loud.”
However, Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Randerson said she was “slightly mystified that this is a top priority” for the Government.
She said: “Last year’s Queen’s Speech promised us an omnibus transport bill to create Great British Rail and deal with technological developments.
“That was abandoned, but our railway system remains in desperate and urgent need of a complete overhaul and reform - and there is equally urgent need for regulation of electric scooters.”
She argued that the Government has given “a whole new meaning to trial schemes” by extending the e-scooter trials “year after year, simply because they haven’t got a plan for the future”.
The former coalition minister branded the legislation a “sledgehammer to crack a nut”, suggesting that it could have simply been an amendment to existing legislation - or that e-scooters and e-bikes could have been dealt with in the same Bill.
Labour frontbencher Lord Liddle added that he agreed the Bill fixed a legal loophole that “has been allowed to exist for far too long” but accused the Government on “ducking” on much-needed transport reform, branding the absence of a more wide-ranging Bill a “great disappointment”.
He said: “The railways are a terrible mess... but we’re not going to get any change in the situation without the regulatory reform, the establishment of Great British Rail, that the Government promised to do.”
