Amazon under pressure to ban sales of dangerous e-bikes

Amazon is facing pressure to ban the sale of “unsafe” e-bikes on its platform, which can travel at 40 miles per hour and use batteries prone to catching on fire.

MPs have criticised the online giant and food delivery companies including Deliveroo whose couriers sometimes use the dangerous electric bikes to increase their earnings.

According to the Times, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Cycling and Walking wrote to the head of Amazon UK calling on the business to immediately stop sales of the bicycles, as well as all equipment used to turn legitimate e-bikes into so-called “fake e-bikes”.

The group is also asking ministers to implement stricter controls on e-bike sales.

E-bikes are allowed to be bought and ridden on UK roads if they meet a strict set of safety regulations, do not surpass 15.5 miles per hour, and have a motor limited to 250W to prevent fires.

Despite this, some e-bikes sold can hit speeds of up to 70 miles per hour, and use throttle controls and powerful motors under the pretense that they will be used off-road.

An Amazon spokesperson said: “We require all products offered in our store to comply with applicable laws and regulations and we monitor for product safety concerns.

“We also go further by requiring sellers of e-mobility products to provide documented testing certification carried out by an accredited lab.”

The report also highlighted businesses in the “gig economy” including Deliveroo, Uber Eats and JustEat which tended to refer to their couriers as self-employed instead of staff members.

The couriers are then paid based on their journeys and are responsible for their vehicles, which the report says has caused many to “turn to illegal or unsafe vehicles that can travel faster than a legal e-bike but are far cheaper than road-legal mopeds or electric vehicles”.

The MPs have called for all noncompliant electric bikes to be taken down from sale, for delivery firms to pay their couriers across shifts instead of per delivery, and for a national scrappage scheme for illegal e-bikes.

A Deliveroo spokesman said: “Complying with safety standards is a condition of riders’ supplier agreements.

“If an incident of a rider using an illegally modified e-bike is reported to us, we will investigate and stop working with the rider if they are in breach of their obligations.”

Last week, Amazon also committed to a crackdown on its fake product reviews, after reaching an agreement with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

The online marketplace pledged to strengthen its detection systems and introduce harsher sanctions for sellers and users found to be manipulating product ratings.

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