Milton Keynes woman pleads for e-scooter drivers to take more care after suffering injuries in collision

A 30-year-old woman has shared photos of the horrible injuries she suffered after an e-scooter ran into her on a city centre pavement while she was walking to work.

Louise, 30, was walking in the rain near M&S at CMK shopping centre early last Friday morning heard a voice say 'excuse me'.

But a split second later, before she had a chance to move, an e-scooter driver ran into her, knocking her to the ground.

"The first thing I noticed was the pain. I was in shock and crying," she said.

"My phone was knocked meters away into the trolley bay and my glasses were knocked off and landed on my right, damaged."

The driver stopped to ask if she needed help and Louise told him he had been going so fast around the corner that she hadn't seen him coming. He rode off after a member of M&S staff arrived to help her and she was in too much shock to take his details or the scooter number.

The white and green machine was one of hundreds available for hire in MK from Lime and is capable of speeds up to 14.8mph.

Like all e-scooters in the city, it is NOT allowed to be ridden on pavements. But publicity before last year's launch, when MK Council advertised that pavement riding was permitted, has led to confusion about this issue.

In April 2019, a month after saying the machines could be used on city pavements, the council admitted it was mistaken, saying pavement riding was illegal and that the scooters could only be used on redways and some minor estate roads where the speed limit is 30mph or less.

Government legislation clearly states anyone caught riding an electric scooter on a pavement could face a £300 fine and six points on their licence.

Until July 4 2019, it was actually illegal in the UK to ride the scooters on any public road or cycle lane. But the government tweaked the legislation to allow local authorities to undertake 12 month e-scooter rental trials.

Louise, who lives in Bletchley, has filed a police report about the incident but is still waiting for a response.

She said: "I have bruises on both my arms, my right knee and the top of my right leg, as well as pulled muscles in my neck and right shoulder. I spent four hours in the urgent care unit that night to look over my multiple injuries and it looks like I was one of the luckier victims. Having looked into these incidents, I have seen that people have been terribly hurt by these and some have even lost their lives because of irresponsible riders."

Since the accident Louise has experienced "multiple panic attacks"

"What can I say? I'm badly hurt, I'm deeply upset and I'm completely outraged that these scooters are allowed to go so fast when there is clearly an issue with people not having a clue or a care that they could hurt someone," she said.

"Something NEEDS to be done about the ridiculous speed of these scooters and tougher regulations must be enforced for users before more people sustain life changing injuries or get killed.

Louise added: "I feel enormously let down by the system, as there is currently no solid system in place for pedestrians being hit by e-scooters and I feel I have been left to just 'get on' with what has been a very distressing experience and has physically affected my day-to-day life.

"I hope that sharing this will help to raise awareness of the dangers posed by e-scooters and hopefully better regulations to ensure everyone's safety."

A spokesman for Lime said:" We’re so sorry to hear about Louise’s experience involving one of our e-scooters in Milton Keynes. Whilst this incident was a result of rider misuse, we know we have a responsibility to educate our users on how to ride responsibly, and regularly remind them not to ride on pavements."

He added: "We will be working with Louise to identify the rider involved in this incident and will take appropriate action. Lime has invested significantly in rider education as well as hardware and software safeguards on all our scooters, like maximum speed limits, GPS tracking and rider verification, and is committed to helping to create a safe and sustainable Milton Keynes for everyone."