A boy aged 12 was taken to a major trauma hospital after being injured in a car crash while apparently riding a Lime e-bike.
The incident happened at about 6.45pm on Monday evening in Tottenham, at the junction of the High Road and Broad Lane, just north of Seven Sisters Tube station.
Pictures taken by a bystander near the scene show the area cordoned off with police tape and a Lime bike on the ground.
A dark grey BMW has stopped after the junction, with its front number-plate on the ground. The Lime bike’s front basket had fallen off the bike, apparently as a result of the collision.
The junction was closed to through traffic for more than three hours afterwards, causing widespread chaos for drivers.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said on Tuesday morning: “Officers responded to reports of a collision involving a car and a cyclist on the junction between High Road and Broad Lane, Tottenham, at 18:53hrs on Monday, 31 March.
“The cyclist, a 12-year-old boy, was treated at the scene for injuries and later taken to hospital by the London Ambulance Service. He remains there for treatment and we await an update on his injuries and condition.
“An investigation is underway and no arrests have been made at this stage.”
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We were called at 6.49pm to reports of a road traffic collision in High Road, Tottenham.
“We sent resources to the scene, including ambulance crews, a paramedic in a fast response car and London’s Air Ambulance.
“The first of our crews arrived in less than a minute. Our crews treated a child at the scene, before taking them to a London major trauma centre.”
Lime riders are meant to be 18 before they have the firm’s permission to hire the battery-assisted bikes.
However schoolchildren are frequently seen riding the bikes – often with a “clicking” alarm sounding, indicating that they have been “hacked”.
The circumstances of how the boy injured in the Tottenham collision apparently came to obtain the Lime bike are not known.
Lime sources said they had been unable to obtain official confirmation that one of the firm’s bikes was being ridden at the time of the collision.
However the Met police said the boy was cycling and eye-witnesses said no other bikes were visible near the crash scene.
Drivers said they had problems diverting away from the area because of low traffic neighbourhood (LTN) restrictions on non-residential traffic.
The incident is believed to be the second in just over a week in which a person riding a Lime bike has been taken to a major trauma centre.
A 21-year-old man suffered life-changing or life-threatening injuries in a hit-and-run collision in Park Lane, at the junction with Upper Brook Street in Mayfair, on Sunday last week (March 23).
