E-bike injury payouts top £110m and push up insurance premiums

An important development from the financial markets: E-bike injury payouts top £110m and push up insurance premiums Figure caption, Alison believed she was lucky not to have been killed in this crashByPhil Mackie, Midlands Correspondent and Annie DelaneyPublished21 minutes agoThe cost of damages paid out to people injured in the UK by e-scooters and e-bikes has topped £110m, the has learned. It is only seven years since the first claim was made, with the biggest individual payout being for £20m. Such claims have also led to premiums for drivers being pushed up, to effectively cover the bill for insurers.

Alison, not her real name, suffered a broken pelvis, wrist and finger as well as cuts and bruises when she was hit by a private e-scooter while crossing a road in Coventry last year. She hopes to get compensation for her injuries. "It was a lovely sunny day so we were all in a really good mood," she said.

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"Then the next thing I knew, it was just gravel and I was on the floor. "It was instant pain, you know when the TV does grey static? That's what my eyes were doing.

"I was on a crossing. I thought it was safe, you just don't expect it. "CCTV footage shows 47-year-old Trevor Chandler, from Coventry, riding his e-scooter directly into her as she and a friend crossed a road, leaving the scene shortly afterwards.

Chandler broke his leg but escaped, before eventually being arrested and jailed for 15 months. His vehicle was destroyed. The organisation which settles claims like Alison's, the Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB), wants the sale of such vehicles to be better regulated and in some cases banned.

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The cost of payouts has been a major contributor to increases in annual premiums for ordinary members of the public, experts say. They have become a common sight on the UK's streets, but they have also become a significant hazard. Micromobility vehicles - which include, e-scooters, e-bikes, mobility scooters and now e-unicyles too - have become a concern for people navigating town and city centres.

All are legally classified as motor vehicles. Hundreds seizedE-scooters are allowed in towns and cities where official trials are taking place, but only the vehicles which are part of the operator schemes can be ridden. Privately owned e-scooters can only legally be used on private land with the owner's permission.

Regular police enforcement operations lead to hundreds being seized and destroyed every year, along with hundreds of e-bikes that have been adapted to go faster than 15. 5mph, the maximum speed at which they can be legally ridden. The first claim paid by the MIB to a person hurt by an e-scooter was in 2019, while the first to someone hurt by an e-bike was in 2020.

Economists are analysing what the news means for the markets.