Marc Goldfinger is a Conservative Councillor for Kensington and Chelsea, and works in the Pharmaceutical industry.
Who would have thought in 2026, diving out of the way of e-bikes on the pavement would become a new Olympic sport? Here I was, eggs in tow from the local shop, splattered on the pavement as a rider had no intention of avoiding me outside Holland Park Tube Station.
Better my eggs cracked open on the floor than my head, but I still felt a flash of anger and frustration as I was powerless to act. Just a few days later, I seconded a motion in Kensington and Chelsea’s full council to increase powers to local authorities to stop and seize errant e-bikes and implore local police to enforce the highway code.
I am sure I am not alone in my experiences here. In fact, as a Councillor, this is the number one issue I deal with on a weekly basis. Not fly tipping or council taxes. It’s overwhelmingly about e-bikes.
Now let me start by saying that e-bikes, if used correctly aren’t inherently bad. I myself am a cyclist and it’s a great way to get around London. But even I find other e-bike users challenging. You know the ones. They run through red lights, ride on the pavements and leave their large immobile bikes clogging up our pathways. When speaking to some of my residents, many have resigned themselves to a state whereby e-bikes and the associated issues are just the way it is now.
Let’s be frank, this is not just about e-bikes. This is about a much larger issue facing Britain in general.
You may have heard about the broken window theory. A broken window pane in an abandoned building will be a signal to others to break more window panes and in no time- the window is destroyed. Fix that window pane, and no more breakages. We often use this analogy to discuss how visible signs of disorder and crime are the start to a rapid decline. Though we usually think of crime as these headline grabbing events (think terror, murder and so on), we often forget about the immense middle-layer of offences that plague Britain.
The endless phone snatching or graffiti that blights our public spaces are the crimes that we actually encounter day-to-day. This, in turn, shapes our sense of community. Which is why for many we feel as though the building blocks for society are somehow out of place.
We have become a society governed by institutions that have stopped believing enforcement is in their job description. Somewhere along the way, these public bodies decided that catching and punishing the people who make everyone else’s life worse off was somehow unseemly, too difficult, or not quite in keeping with a modern society. When we do dole out some level of punishment, its usually insufficient.
Take antisocial behaviour in the UK. Almost 40 per cent of young people are reconvicted for the same crimes within a year of their first offence.
When we see companies like TfL stand idly by as fare dodgers jump the turnstiles and spray-paint our tube carriages, we often bemoan ‘how can people keep getting away with this’? That’s because staff are told to not engage with the perpetrators and to simply process the reports and clean up the mess at the expense of the taxpayers, and move on. And the person who commits the crime, they will continue to do so again and again. Because why not? They are not taking a risk. There was never any risk to take if there is no punishment for their actions.
Another trap we find ourselves is when we think, if only people could use some common sense, these issues would be solved. But let’s face it, a small number of bad actors continually spoil the bunch as honest citizens stand by, unable to act.
But not all is lost. As we introduce new inventions and ideas (like e-bikes) to our cities, towns and high streets, regulations must be focused on making sure we take responsibility for our actions.
Take mobile phones for example. When these were first introduced, we used to talk on them and drive at the same time – an incredibly dangerous practice. However, legislation made the penalties for using a mobile phone whilst driving a non-starter. But it wasn’t just the promise of fines, it was the fact that this law was actively being enforced. In 2011, the number of penalties given out for mobile phone use whilst driving was roughly 162,400. Over time, behaviours changed and ten years later, penalties fell to 19,700. This enforcement and subsequent behavioural change translated into mobile phone associated injuries falling from 3,119 in 2011 to 499 in 2021.
As a result, many of us stopped using mobile phones whilst driving.
Now let’s take a look at e-bikes. In the past 7 years, hundreds of pedestrian collisions have been recorded in London, with 1 in 3 being caused by hired e-bikes. This has resulted in damages over £110 million being paid out for injuries.
However, there is a way to tackle this growing trend. Since last year, my own council, Kensington and Chelsea, has seized over 2,500 e-bikes. This is no easy feat. The council has charged operators more than £210,000 in seizure, storage and release fees. This can be copied by any local authority by creating designated parking spaces for e-bikes, issuing fixed penalty notices for fly-tipping, police can seize vehicles being used antisocially. We have the tools for this already, but the Government needs to set clear rules and apply them.
But most importantly, we need to stop apologising for enforcing these rules. E-bike hire companies should be forced to use individual identifiers, so riders who don’t follow the rules can be fined or banned from using these services.
The world is changing quickly, and new technology meant to improve our lives will keep on coming. All it takes is a few bad actors to derail what can be a force for good. In order to keep living in a civilised society, we need to fix those window panes as they break. We need to set clear rules and enforce them from the start.
Marc Goldfinger is a Conservative Councillor for Kensington and Chelsea, and works in the Pharmaceutical industry.
Who would have thought in 2026, diving out of the way of e-bikes on the pavement would become a new Olympic sport? Here I was, eggs in tow from the local shop, splattered on the pavement as a rider had no intention of avoiding me outside Holland Park Tube Station.
Better my eggs cracked open on the floor than my head, but I still felt a flash of anger and frustration as I was powerless to act. Just a few days later, I seconded a motion in Kensington and Chelsea’s full council to increase powers to local authorities to stop and seize errant e-bikes and implore local police to enforce the highway code.
I am sure I am not alone in my experiences here. In fact, as a Councillor, this is the number one issue I deal with on a weekly basis. Not fly tipping or council taxes. It’s overwhelmingly about e-bikes.
Now let me start by saying that e-bikes, if used correctly aren’t inherently bad. I myself am a cyclist and it’s a great way to get around London. But even I find other e-bike users challenging. You know the ones. They run through red lights, ride on the pavements and leave their large immobile bikes clogging up our pathways. When speaking to some of my residents, many have resigned themselves to a state whereby e-bikes and the associated issues are just the way it is now.
Let’s be frank, this is not just about e-bikes. This is about a much larger issue facing Britain in general.
You may have heard about the broken window theory. A broken window pane in an abandoned building will be a signal to others to break more window panes and in no time- the window is destroyed. Fix that window pane, and no more breakages. We often use this analogy to discuss how visible signs of disorder and crime are the start to a rapid decline. Though we usually think of crime as these headline grabbing events (think terror, murder and so on), we often forget about the immense middle-layer of offences that plague Britain.
The endless phone snatching or graffiti that blights our public spaces are the crimes that we actually encounter day-to-day. This, in turn, shapes our sense of community. Which is why for many we feel as though the building blocks for society are somehow out of place.
We have become a society governed by institutions that have stopped believing enforcement is in their job description. Somewhere along the way, these public bodies decided that catching and punishing the people who make everyone else’s life worse off was somehow unseemly, too difficult, or not quite in keeping with a modern society. When we do dole out some level of punishment, its usually insufficient.
Take antisocial behaviour in the UK. Almost 40 per cent of young people are reconvicted for the same crimes within a year of their first offence.
When we see companies like TfL stand idly by as fare dodgers jump the turnstiles and spray-paint our tube carriages, we often bemoan ‘how can people keep getting away with this’? That’s because staff are told to not engage with the perpetrators and to simply process the reports and clean up the mess at the expense of the taxpayers, and move on. And the person who commits the crime, they will continue to do so again and again. Because why not? They are not taking a risk. There was never any risk to take if there is no punishment for their actions.
Another trap we find ourselves is when we think, if only people could use some common sense, these issues would be solved. But let’s face it, a small number of bad actors continually spoil the bunch as honest citizens stand by, unable to act.
But not all is lost. As we introduce new inventions and ideas (like e-bikes) to our cities, towns and high streets, regulations must be focused on making sure we take responsibility for our actions.
Take mobile phones for example. When these were first introduced, we used to talk on them and drive at the same time – an incredibly dangerous practice. However, legislation made the penalties for using a mobile phone whilst driving a non-starter. But it wasn’t just the promise of fines, it was the fact that this law was actively being enforced. In 2011, the number of penalties given out for mobile phone use whilst driving was roughly 162,400. Over time, behaviours changed and ten years later, penalties fell to 19,700. This enforcement and subsequent behavioural change translated into mobile phone associated injuries falling from 3,119 in 2011 to 499 in 2021.
As a result, many of us stopped using mobile phones whilst driving.
Now let’s take a look at e-bikes. In the past 7 years, hundreds of pedestrian collisions have been recorded in London, with 1 in 3 being caused by hired e-bikes. This has resulted in damages over £110 million being paid out for injuries.
However, there is a way to tackle this growing trend. Since last year, my own council, Kensington and Chelsea, has seized over 2,500 e-bikes. This is no easy feat. The council has charged operators more than £210,000 in seizure, storage and release fees. This can be copied by any local authority by creating designated parking spaces for e-bikes, issuing fixed penalty notices for fly-tipping, police can seize vehicles being used antisocially. We have the tools for this already, but the Government needs to set clear rules and apply them.
But most importantly, we need to stop apologising for enforcing these rules. E-bike hire companies should be forced to use individual identifiers, so riders who don’t follow the rules can be fined or banned from using these services.
The world is changing quickly, and new technology meant to improve our lives will keep on coming. All it takes is a few bad actors to derail what can be a force for good. In order to keep living in a civilised society, we need to fix those window panes as they break. We need to set clear rules and enforce them from the start.