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So this is fine in loads of other European cities, but what possible “traffic offences” could this non-motorised vehicle be committing?
Lack of two functioning brakes is the only one I can think of…
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-68587572
Does it have power assist? If so there are other regulations that apply eg it might have more that 250 watts continuous power.
IIRC every wheel needs to have a brake. Although it could be on a shared axle.
It does sound like a targeted hit on dubious ground though. The most likely road traffic offences are those that are routinely flouted by motor vehicles and ignored by Police Scotland.
I have seen one of those in Prague and thought they were an abomination - really noisy and crass - and the Prague citizens didn't care for them along with the rest of the touristification of their beautiful city.
I believe it has e-assist, don’t know the wattage. But the motor can run without pedalling, so that would technically be an offence (since when do the polis bother with all the Deliveroo riders running this set up?)
And then all the cars with faulty headlights, mobile phones obstructing the driver’s vision, darkly tinted front windows and windscreens…
Saw a cracker last week, driver coming down Morison St towards Haymarket Station. Got confused, stopped in the middle of the junction, then proceeded on the wrong side of the island and wrong side of road, along the oncoming tram line!
Not sure I feel like going in to bat for a company that allows you to hire a "pretty waitress" for an extra £50.
Also, the road traffic offences might have nothing to do with the vehicle design - it could be how the vehicle was being driven.
I don’t think the polis would have towed the vehicle if it was how it was driven? I guess they can tow for no insurance, but for other bad driving?
pretty waitress
Urgh, that’s grim. Thanks for spotting that
Section 126 of the Anti-Social Behaviour (Scotland) Act 2004 gives Police Scotland wide ranging powers to seize a motor vehicle being driven carelessly or that is "is causing, or is likely to cause, alarm, distress or annoyance to members of the public".
I reckon there is sufficient dubiety about this beer bike falling within the definition of an electrically assisted pedal cycle for the police to reasonably consider it to be a motor vehicle.
I can't stand the idea of a beer bike but I'd be willing to bet that power is virtually never used against car drivers (prohibition if an overloaded lorry etc maybe, but even then they don't insta tow it)
Pre-covid you used to see occasional lorries impounded at the DVLA testing station at Burnshot.
@Dave - I think those powers were largely introduced to deal with scrambler bikes being used off-road and for car meet-ups in various car parks. The police had very little power to deal with those previously, as road traffic law generally does not apply away for a road.
It's a pity the police weren't around to impound the Land Rover Defender with the giant "90" on the front of it, under Section 126 of the Anti-Social Behaviour (Scotland) Act 2004.
I mean why would you have a highly distinctive vehicle and then use it to terrorise half of Bruntsfield by hooring away from the pedestrian crossing with your 4 big V8 exhaust fume pumpers blasting noise into the universe? Terrifying. Only to repeat the process coming up Whitehouse Loan. Only to park outside the Black Ivy? I arrived before he did, from the same locations.
It would be a pity if TE got to such a distinctive baby-killer
The real terrorists are the ones driving the oversized ugly tanks
Keen to hear the reasoning. If the grounds are behavioural nuisance, then understandable - though selective by comparison with ghetto-blaster pimpmobile cars. But if not, given these are tolerated in numerous other UK and EU cities (whose bike regs we haven't yet deviated from, and which generally do not specifically exclude large bike-type vehicles), and unless they transgress in mechanical ways others have mentioned (as a commercial product, unlikely), the Council surely has a duty to clarify with the cops and populace precisely what is permissible going forward. You can't seriously claim to be aiming to be a highly pro-cycling, Paris-compliant city without far more non-standard pedal vehicles.
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