Delivery driver motorbike/ebike driving standards should be far more thoroughly policed

[LargeDeviation]

Over the last week, I have seen:

1. A delivery driver turn right from a main road into a side street from the wrong side of the road, almost crashing into a car turning left from the side street
2. Numerous delivery drivers driving on the wrong side of the main road, forcing oncoming traffic to slow down or even emergency brake
3. Constant undertaking by delivery drivers
4. Delivery motorbikes exceeding local 20mph/30mph speed limits by a factor of at least 2
5. An electric bike delivery man riding on the pavement whilst checking his phone and knocking into an elderly gentleman (who was fortunately OK). In general, a lot of ebikes ridden on the pavement
6. Delivery motorbikes taking up all the parking spaces in loading bays, ignoring all time limits

These are all in an area with large numbers of CCTV cameras, traffic cameras, etc. in London.

If examples were made of a few of these then driving standards amongst delivery motorbikes generally would improve. It would be an easy win for the police as well, the cases are so easy to prove. But it seems like the police and the politicians don't care.

I strongly suspect that many of the drivers don't have legal driving licences. Also, though it isn't immediately relevant to my main concern about driving standards, increased police enforcement/spot checks would also deter informal/under the table subcontracting of Uber Eats/Just Eat/Deliveroo etc accounts by illegal immigrants...

It isn’t legal, they are illegally modified. Hence the number of stolen jailbroken Lime bikes in use.

Which bit is a new thing?

Bracknellite · Today 12:49
As a biker myself I couldn't agree more (these twats are not bikers but that's another issue)

They are Bikers, you can't just dismiss them because you don't like how they ride.

Most of the motor bikers won't have a full licence,
At least around here they are pretty all on L plates.
(TBH the car delivery drivers are not much better).

Yup, they are all over Glasgow too. Jailbroken bikes, super fast without any pedalling whatsoever, no lights, no helmets, no road sense, no insurance.

Total menace. Police don't seem to care.

Looks like the companies only agreed to check subcontractors’ RTW themselves at the end of April, and I didn’t think they had all actually started doing it yet.

www.ft.com/content/41e80753-78b7-4a19-8d5f-a2f204d35f1d

www.thegrocer.co.uk/technology-and-supply-chain/aggregator-apps-bow-to-home-office-pressure-on-illegal-substitute-riders/690854.article

In terms of the bikes, many of them were road legal when built, but have been modified after purchase.

It is perfectly legal to ride a motorbike under 15bhp (125cc) on L plates with only a provisional license and having completed a CBT. They are required to have insurance and wear a helmet. If the riders are acting like twats and riding illegally/irresponsibly and not following these rules then that is on them, having a full license probably wouldn't change that. Many car drivers also drive like twats and have a full license. Stricter policing for all road users riding/driving dangerously is needed!

The e-bikes/escooters are a completely separate issue, as many have pointed out, and are illegal. I agree there should be much stricter enforcement of the rules when it comes to these as they are dangerous. There is a local guy who regularly speeds up and down the town on very busy pavements full of people on what is essentially an electric motorbike but nothing is done about it. I do question why they are available to buy in the first place but now there are so many it must be hard to enforce.

They have always had the rules that if u subcontract to an illegal then you can lose your account. Which wouldn't be good as there is waiting lists to get accounts.

I do get pissed off when everyone lumps food delivery drivers and illegal riders on dodgy bikes. The genuine deliverers don't want them either. But it's a small percentage ( maybe not in London) and we all get tarred with the same brush.

I have a perfectly road legal small car for deliveries, various sized official delivery bags ( not an Asda £1 thermal) and drive sensibly. As well as being white British and not subcontracting out the account

There's multiple e-bike delivery drivers here who wear no helmet and bike around in the dark with no lights! I don't understand why they haven't been caught by the police.

I don't understand why they haven't been caught by the police

Around here the answer is "what polilce?"

@Gogogo12345 The problem is (or used to be) that companies like Uber Eats said you could lose your account if it ever came to their attention that you were subcontracting to somebody without RTW, but equally they were fine with you subcontracting to (in some cases) over 100 substitute drivers and you didn’t need to give any advance notice (just tell them “within 48 hrs of the substitution”).

Which in effect meant “do what you like, we won’t be checking, but if you get caught we’re washing our hands of you”. I put the blame squarely at the feet of the companies, not the delivery drivers.

The fact that you can send a subcontractor to do the job in your place is key to the argument that delivery drivers aren't employees.

Aren't delivery drivers meant to have special insurance for delivering food. The drivers are a pain in the arse. Parking everywhere they shouldn't.

Yes you have food delivery insurance.

What do you mean parking everywhere they shouldn't anyway,? While picking up the food ( which in theory should be ready for collection) or delivery to customers , who should be expecting you and get to door at a reasonable time?

Either way there shouldn't be anyone parked anywhere more than a couple of minutes

Well they should have insurance for delivering food in the same way as they should be on a standard bike with pedals, or if riding a jailbroken one should have lights, a helmet, standard motorbike insurance, a driving licence....

It's the footpaths in our local park too, making life so much harder for kids and dogs, my kids have to look when they cross a footpath as if it's a road.

They are all on souped up e-bikes, often listening to headphones and paying no attention, hurtling around. The nice dynamic that let cyclists and walkers and kids on scooters etc all share a path has been completely wrecked and they seem to be behaving legally.

There are so many illegal e-bikes around where I live. I don't understand why the police don't confiscate them. The risk of them causing a bad accident must be really high. There is no way that they have valid insurance.

This is also the case in Edinburgh. They are a menace. There's one particular road in the city centre (Lothian Road, for locals), where there are a lot of food places which do deliveries, and the bikes just appear between parked cars, buses, lorries, etc. It's awful. The riders are often all in black, with no lights or helmets, and I dread that I will hit someone who just lurches out. Someone will be killed soon.

Some park up sit in their car waiting for orders
I just wish people would cook their own bloody dinner lol.

Yeah but not usually in a non parking place round here as the wardens are fierce lol. No point losing an evening's wages on a parking fine. How do you know which cars are delivery drivers anyway?

From your previous post it sounds like you aren’t in a city, but around here the delivery bikes congregate in specific places waiting for deliveries to be delegated to them.

Outside McDs is a local favourite, outside the leisure centre is another. So you get upwards of 20 bikes on the pavement, with the delivery drivers standing smoking in a huddle all evening. They block bus stops, obstruct access, and you have to step off the pavement to get around them. It’s antisocial, and they ought to be moved on but they aren’t.

Yes they should be. Used to have the car park full of the bikes in the McDonald's in the next town. They now moved it to a delivery kitchen in industrial unit at far end so even if there were bikes hanging about ( most of our deliveries seem to be cars) then they don't disturbing anyone else.

That sounds much better - wish ours would do that!