British independent cycle traders reacted with frustration and disappointment to a BBC Panorama show on e-bikes which was aired earlier this week.
Presented by Adrian Chiles, the show titled “E-Bikes: The Battle for our Streets” explored the rise of e-bikes within communities across the country and the debate on whether they should be viewed as a menace or a positive and eco-friendly form of transport.
One of the central focuses of the documentary was the rise of e-bikes being used for criminal purposes in central London, as well as in other major cities.
Jonathan Harrison, director of the Association for Cycle Traders, told Cycling Weekly he was left dismayed by the show and felt it focused solely on the negatives, without properly showing the benefits they bring.
“I was really disappointed to see a programme like that without any meaningful consultation into the positives of e-bikes and very little differentiation between illegal and legal,” he said.
Gavin Hudson of Butternut Bikes in north London echoed this and said that it simply caused further aversion towards those who opt to use legal e-bikes in public. He explained that he felt the main aim of the documentary was to create an increase of unnecessary hysteria in relation to the bikes.
“I think the programme probably achieved what it wanted to,” he said. “Nearly everyone watching it, either for or against e-bikes, was angry by the time the opening credits finished. There were multiple shots of e-motorbikes, and a lot fewer of e-bikes.
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“The question really needs to be, does the hysteria match the actual harm caused? The vast majority of anti-social behaviour is on e-motorbikes rather than legal e-bikes. We love getting people moving and hate the division that shows like this try to sew.”
The show led to the Bicycle Association [BA] – the governing body representing the cycle industry in Britain – lodging a formal complaint with the BBC in which the organisation insisted that the term ‘e-bike’ was removed from the show’s title in order to describe the content of the episode of Panorama in a more accurate fashion.
The Bicycle Association’s technical and policy director, Peter Eland, said that the BBC needed to endeavour to “make it fully clear and properly inform the public that e-bikes and illegal e-motorbikes are two entirely separate categories”.
Eland said the BA felt saddened that the show failed to include input from an industry expert and instead relied on the views of “an enthusiast with a collection of illegal e-motorbikes, not road legal e-bikes”.
Another area of concern that the show generated was its suggestion that illegal e-bikes are available for purchase on the Cycle to Work schemes.
Hudson said that this had caused further frustration due to it potentially harming the reputation of honest “bricks and mortar” traders in the country.
He said: “As a retailer, we are very careful to only sell or work on legal and safe e-bikes, there would be a clear and obvious paper trail back to us in the event of an incident, and it is not something we would want on our record here at Butternut Bikes.
“The incidence of being able to buy an electric e-moped on a Cycle to Work scheme seems to be far more of a dodgy shop rather than widespread adoption of that.
“We are seeing good numbers of customers who appreciate the value of a safe and reliable e-bike using the scheme as it is intended, to get themselves to work and to transport their kids on the way too.”
He added: “To be part of a Cycle to Work scheme, we also have to prove that we have adequate insurance, our insurance would not be valid if we were working on illegal e-bikes.”
The BBC were approached for comment in relation to this story.
