Woman comes off e-scooter in first day of Portsmouth council trial

EMERGENCY services have tended to a woman who fell off an e-scooter on the first day of a council trial.
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Portsmouth City Council has set up 100 rental e-scooters throughout the city, in a six-month trial run on either a pay-as-you-go or subscription service.

But on the first day of the trial, a woman came off in an incident in Clarence Esplanade, opposite the D-Day Story Museum.

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Ambulance and police vehicles soon arrived as caring members of the public stopped to help out.

The incident took place earlier this afternoon. Picture: Trevor GoodmanThe incident took place earlier this afternoon. Picture: Trevor Goodman
The incident took place earlier this afternoon. Picture: Trevor Goodman
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It is not thought that the woman is seriously injured, though this is still unconfirmed.

The rental e-scooters cost £1 to unlock and then 20 pence per minute, with 24-hour and 30-day subscriptions available.

Users must be 18 and have at least a provisional drivers licence to use the vehicles, which are limited to 10mph.

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Cllr Lynne Stagg, cabinet member for traffic and transportation, launched the trial yesterday.

She said: ‘I was sorry to hear today that there was an incident involving a rental e-scooter.

‘We have asked Voi to look into what happened and to continue encouraging safe riding. We have worked closely with Voi to introduce the rental e-scooter trial in the safest way possible – with only people 18 and over with at least a provisional licence being able to ride, speed caps, and geofencing technology to create no go zones and 5mph slow zones.

‘We will await the results of Voi's investigation into the incident.’

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South Central Ambulance Service has been contacted for comment.

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