Portsmouth e--scooter operators Voi and 50 other organisations lobby prime minister to legalise the machines

Among the signatories are Voi, which operates more than 800 e-scooters across Portsmouth as part of the ongoing trial scheme, which is due to run until May 2024.

The signatories have warned that the UK is at risk of falling behind the rest of Europe.

Rental e-scooters are currently only legally available through government trials in 23 towns and cities around England – it is illegal to use private e-scooters on public roads.

The popularity of rental e-scooters has rocketed in recent years but the UK is the only developed nation without either permanently legal e-scooters or committed plans to legalise them.

Now Collaborative Mobility UK (CoMoUK), which brings together public, private and third sector organisations to support shared transport, has sent the letter to Rishi Sunak calling on him to press ahead with legislation to create a new powered light vehicle class that would make e-scooters legal.

The letter states: “Currently e-scooter trials are due to end after May 2024. These trials are ingrained into local transport systems enabling thousands of people to get to work, higher education and to run errands. Yet there is no certainty of these trials beyond spring next year nor the ability of additional towns or cities to introduce these services.

“This lack of certainty combined with the fact an estimated 750,000 privately owned and unregulated e-scooters are on UK roads underscores the importance of e-scooter legislation being included in this year’s King’s Speech.

“Another extension to shared e-scooters does not address private e-scooters. These private vehicles are unlikely to undergo regular maintenance by trained professionals or have government-mandated safety features.

“Private e-scooters can cause concern for road users particularly disabled people in addition to potentially being unsafe for riders, however, this is where legislation and regulation can make a positive difference.”

The letter adds: “The Clean Cities Campaign has recently found that UK cities are lagging well behind other European cities in the rollout of shared and zero-emissions transport including e-scooters. Major shared transport operators stand ready to continue investing and improving transport across UK towns and cities, however, they require long-term certainty that would only come with legislation.”

Richard Dilks, chief executive of CoMoUK, said: “The evidence from the trials is that e-scooters are incredibly popular, with huge demand from users, and the UK has been left as an international outlier by not introducing permanent legality. To address the crisis levels of transport emissions in the UK and help people save money amid the cost-of-living crisis, the government can’t delay any further.”

Mike Bell, head of public affairs and campaigns at Thomas Pocklington Trust, a national charity working with blind and partially sighted people, said: “Unregulated and illegal private e-scooters are terrorising visually impaired pedestrians and many other people on our pavements. It urgently needs government to act and regulate the market for both private and rental e-scooters in favour of those responsible companies actively building in safety and street etiquette.”