Birmingham police seize and crush man's legal e-bike
Can you imagine the uproar if someone's legal car was seized and immediately crushed because some woodentop made a mistake? And the Police don't even apologise or accept they made a mistake. It's good to see this go mainstream. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
North Country Boy65Love the highly accurate "test" of lifting & spinning the back wheel as fast as they could to see if it goes above 15.5. There's a 4 year old next door, pretty sure I could get her bike up to 20 or so by doing that.
Sean Madden31Driver whose car has illegal tints will get a polite warning, at best, but they have zero qualms about destroying a legal bike.
Michael ᚋᚔᚉᚆᚓᚐᚂ26Every time DVLA and police do random roadside inspections they find roughly 25% of all vehicles are non-compliant. We never hear of them being crushed.
Simon Huddlestone19It’s just so infuriating- yes we want police to take action against illegal e-bikes and e-motorcycles… But here they appear to have terribly messed up through a combination of arrogance and ignorance.
Tom Hallett10What did they expect when the speedo reached 15.5 MPH while they were spinning the back wheel? That the automatic brakes would kick in? Astonishing.
Paul ☕️ 🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️🚶 🚲 🎄7Wonder if @ternbicycles.com know about one of their bikes being wrongly destroyed due the police recruiting people who shouldn't be allowed to be out and about unaccompanied.
Jim Waterson173Lol I just moved my kids around London on this exact bicycle at 25mph *because you can pedal faster than the motor* oh god e-bike policy is such a mess, even the police don't have a clue.
Tom Roberts78God they are not sending their best
Disappointed Optimist74Ok but hear me out: Do this, but for Meta glasses.
Laura G Mitchell33Police looking for illegal ebikes seized and destroyed this person’s ebike… a Tern GSD (very much not an illegal ebike).
Katy12...but are quite happy to run a flawed test to confiscate and destroy a legal cargo e-bike paid for by taxpayers! bsky.app/profile/gazz...
GeorgeWeeks201411This is an extreme example of ignorant #motornormativity by the police. One for @ianwalker.bsky.social And I do wish the #BBC could be clearer in its terminology. A bike frame retroditted with a motor that will let it do 50 mph without pedalling is *not* an "e-bike". It's an electric motorcycle.
Quai2Saône10La police de Birmingham confond un longtail GSD de @ternbicycles.com avec un faux vélo, le saisit et le détruit. 😱 Son propriétaire a pourtant tenté d'expliquer leur méprise aux policiers. Bon sang, un GSD ! Faut-il être ignorant ? 🤦♂️
Dave Cox8Bizarre mistake West Midlands Police have a lot to learn about active travel glad that @cyclinguk.bsky.social are involved. But months slipping by with no @ternbicycles.com
Alex MacFarlane6"The BBC has discovered this is one of several legal bikes - and even mobility aids used by wheelchair users - that have been seized and destroyed by police in error." Appalling!
Lizzie Crowdagger5"The BBC has discovered this is one of several legal bikes - and even mobility aids used by wheelchair users - that have been seized and destroyed by police in error." Ptn
“Why would he want to go through that again? Why would he consider even buying a legal e-bike, when he could just buy a cheap £500 illegal e-motorbike and be at the same level of risk?”
Teddy15Poorly educated Police strike again 🙄 Even an idiot could tell between a home electric job and a fancy Bosch powered set up. Brown face, poor English, delivering food. Nicked. Fills the quota 😡 They’ll end up refunding the shop 100%, but the waste of effort, money and time….
danofthesun.bsky.social2I think there been a bit of a fuck up .
This is such an extraordinary story. Hopefully this court case will give the police pause. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Dr Vanessa44Fascinating that our local police are baffled and powerless to catch the uninsured & often unlicensed boy racers who drive at 2-3x the speed limit on residential streets EVERY NIGHT or the quadbikers who rip up our parks and green spaces, but a bicyclist? Oh, *then* they're happy to Do Enforcement.
Simon 🪗7This is their 'test'. Utter morons.
sveinhal4Ikke bare norsk politi som måler feil. Politiet i Birmingham beslagla og destruerte en Tern-lastesykkel, fordi de klarte å få den opp i 40 km/t ved å løfte bakhjulet og dra pedalene rundt. At motoren stoppet på 25 km/t skjønte de ikke noe av.
Stephanie4Every single day I see something that makes me question whether this country's police force is fit for purpose.
