Southeastern, Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express rail operators in the UK will ban e-cooters on trains beginning on June 1. This measure was announced due to concerns over fire risk. E-scooter batteries are subject to the fear, due to the potential of overheating. “Because it’s impossible for our colleagues at stations and on board our trains to check whether an e-scooter is safe or not, we have to think of everyone’s safety, and so we can’t allow them on our trains,” Steve Lewis, head of safety and environment at Southeastern company declared.
This is not all: customers will also not be allowed to store e-scooters in railway station storage facilities or take them on bus replacement services. They also will not be permitted to charge the devices at train stations or on the trains, The e-scooters will not be accepted as lost property. Great Western Railway imposed ban on May 1.SWR is the latest train operator to ban scooters from its trains. To understand better, e-scooters are not currently regulated and so are ‘not required to meet minimum safety standards for vehicles.’ There have been recent incidents of e-scooters catching fire on other forms of public transport. However they are very popular, being used by a lot of people.
