Police ebike checks.

If they pulled you over, would you let the police ride your ebike to check for irregularities and illegalities? What if someone in uniform came to your home, with what appeared to be genuine law enforcement ID, asking to test your bike after receiving allegations of it being rode at excess speed on the public highway. Would you allow them to take it for a ride and test it out on the road?

if they pull me in at a public place, maybe but definitely not at my home, they'd need to show me a warrant!

Similar to Woosh.

 

On the road I'd regard it as preferable to the alternative which is temporary confiscation to be taken away for examination on suspicion of illegality.

 

The "at home" second you list would never happen. E-bike conformity is not a criminal matter and a warrant cannot be obtained for this civil matter. So with no official confirmation, no way would I release the bike.

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the threat that the police are able (if) to verify e-bike speed should be enough to reduce substantially the number of e-bikes fitted with direct drive motors.

Well it was just a few days ago that I heard of the fake police car scam operating on our motorways, where an unmarked police car puts on its blue lights and pulls over a high end car on the pretext of doing a vehicle inspection. One officer will sit in the unmarked car and the other asks the punter to stand behind the barriers for safety while he inspects the car.

both cars are driven away and the punters Left standing on the motorway.

 

so my answer to your question is only if I was 110% sure it is a proper copper and that’s only on the road side, if I was unsure I’d call 999 and repot them as impersonating a police office.

as to my house, no chance

 

I'm in one of those moods today

What if someone in uniform came to your home, with what appeared to be genuine law enforcement ID, asking to test your bike after receiving allegations of it being rode at excess speed on the public highway

It's not illegal to own an ebike whose motor can provide assistance above 15.5mph so there's not point in them examining at at home unless they can prove who was riding it.

 

I'm meeting my recently retired policeman friend this evening, I'l ask him obout the legality or otherwise of the police testing a vehicle.

Yes of course the Police could have a go on my bike, but I'd need their car keys as a guarantee. My Wife used to work for the armed response unit, so I think it's a fair swap

 

Gaz

when plod comes to my hut they smash the door down put me in cuffs and process me via looking in my ass for a weed stash pmsl.

 

if drugs are found on you they will strip search you and monitor output

It's not illegal to own an ebike whose motor can provide assistance above 15.5mph so there's not point in them examining at at home unless they can prove who was riding it.

 

I'm meeting my recently retired policeman friend this evening, I'l ask him obout the legality or otherwise of the police testing a vehicle.

My policeman friend retired 3 years ago and is sure that the guidelines have changed in that time so he couldn't help, he did say though that the police have the power to impound any powered vehicle in order to allow the experts to examine it so I guess the choice is between let the policeman have a test ride of your bike or let him impound it.

 

Bit of a no brainer really....

Bit of a no brainer really....

 

Not if it's a scam and your bike gets stolen.

when plod comes to my hut they smash the door down put me in cuffs and process me via looking in my ass for a weed stash pmsl.

 

Don't hide your dongle up yer ass.

Take his/her photograph, video their actions and as Gaz says - car keys as a 'non-returnable' deposit!

Can't see a copper handing over the keys to his car, unmarked or otherwise.

There could be many things illegal about a car that are not immediately obvious, yet I've never been asked for a drive.

 

My own bike (Ezee front hub kit) will clock 19mph on the stand, not through anything I've done, so maybe 17.5 on the road. I think it's limited by magnetic saturation. However it never actually cuts out, i.e. if I go down hill at 25mph and peddle, the motor still sounds as if it's driving. So, I guess, to the letter of the law, it's illegal.

So I think if the request seemed to come from friendly curiosity I might say yes. If it came with 'litigant clout' I think I'd politely decline pointing out that their body armour would make 'em a bit top heavy and I fear for their safety and that of my bike.

My policeman friend retired 3 years ago and is sure that the guidelines have changed in that time so he couldn't help, he did say though that the police have the power to impound any powered vehicle in order to allow the experts to examine it so I guess the choice is between let the policeman have a test ride of your bike or let him impound it.

 

Bit of a no brainer really....

 

Yes, that's what I've been saying all along, it's always been the case.

 

In fact many years ago police officers could and did commandeer cars on the road to drive them in pursuit of escaping offenders. Fortunately that's no longer the practice.

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So I think if the request seemed to come from friendly curiosity I might say yes. If it came with 'litigant clout' I think I'd politely decline pointing out that their body armour would make 'em a bit top heavy and I fear for their safety and that of my bike.

your Ezee kit was precisely the original kit for someone who is 'top heavy'.

It's been so long since I saw a copper I've forgotton what they look like.

It's been so long since I saw a copper I've forgotton what they look like.

 

 

Here's one:

 

Don't hide your dongle up yer ass.

https://www.engadget.com/2007/12/24/body-scanning-chair-to-show-uk-prisoners-whos-boss/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADzo9oeL9sQgA0A5WTYeZGo-jKGN44IuRlUaUVpC_q31YGeEv4mq5ZXGxiHhI0kQUifdSOMqe4hvMMlP9Ur-XKY6wyXR07azfV0KAIJHqx9pFAgt8MiCiJDa9mJHCaXJM8qv7EDPa5rHKIKf7SOznA-L5DhgnIWyn88EvANVGZ83

 

Can't see a copper handing over the keys to his car, unmarked or otherwise.

 

I was joshing - they're not allowed to.

 

Not about Mrs Gaz though. While I at the time had a rather unexciting admin job, she was part of the armed response, helicopter, dog and royal protection Special Operations Unit.

 

Gaz

Streuth, I bet you behave at home Gaz.

Puts my missuses 'You must be 'avin' a larf' stare into context.

I was a policeman for 30 years retiring 22 years ago.

 

If I wanted something but didn't have the power to demand it I used the 'bullshit baffles brains' method. Most of the time it worked.

 

A couple of years after retiring it was my practice to cycle with my dog off the lead on the footpath. In a busy area I attached the dog to the nearside of the bike using a 'walkydog' and rode on the road.

 

A traffic policeman stopped me and told me it was illegal to cycle with a dog attached to a bike. I asked him to tell me the act & section or regulation. He said he would look it up and phone me with the details.

 

Never heard from him.

 

I haven't voted because my flat refusal isn't an option.

A traffic policeman stopped me and told me it was illegal to cycle with a dog attached to a bike. I asked him to tell me the act & section or regulation. He said he would look it up and phone me with the details.

 

It was probably because the attachment implied it was a beast of burden. I've long understood that it's illegal to use dogs for towing of any kind in Britain, though it does happen elsewhere. Looking up the law seems impossible though, since search engines insist of converting any towing question into the dog being carried in a trailer, a very different thing!

 

The towing law is often ignored though, some people have used them to tow sleighs in snow and at least one outfit uses teams of dogs to tow wheeled sleighs on dry off-road woodland paths.

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Doesn't it depend on whether the dog(s) can generate more than 250w over an extended period of time, and whether it can still pull at over 15mph?

Doesn't it depend on whether the dog(s) can generate more than 250w over an extended period of time, and whether it can still pull at over 15mph?

 

This law predates pedelecs and the web. I can't remember exactly when I read about it being illegal in Britain, but it was probably between 1960 and 1980. Something to do with animal welfare no doubt, a very British obsession.

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I haven't voted because my flat refusal isn't an option.

 

Out of curiosity, would there be a reason for you flatly refusing a Police Officer to test ride your bike in his search for illegalities and irregularities? Not that you need a reason to be non-compliant.

 

Doesn't it depend on whether the dog(s) can generate more than 250w over an extended period of time, and whether it can still pull at over 15mph?

 

Ah.. There's a relatively new dog sport and leisure activity called 'Bikejoring', which I do myself and which has now become very popular, as a google or youtube search will demonstrate, in which the dog runs ahead of the bike or scooter. Draft animal laws don't apply.