Hi guys,
I’m a long time lurker, regular Evolve Carbon Gen. 1 user, thinking about building an e-sk8 myself and I’ve finally decided to post something, because I think it is quite relevant for the community (specially UK based e-sk8ers).
While my good Evolve friends were out having fun at the World Cup, I was given grief by my the Security Manager at my new place of work: he refused at first to let my Evolve in the premises, because it would be “unethical” for him to condone its use outside the company’s premises. Go figure. So I went through the trouble of speaking to the Police about it and got a really good level of engagement with them. The TL;DR version is as follows, but I’ve kept the emails should anyone be interested in the detail (I would definitely encourage you guys to read the finer print):
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There’s not specific UK legislation to cover electric skateboards. There’s a EU law that classifies electric skateboards as sports equipment for the purposes of import and taxation (not a toy; not a motor vehicle)
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Police will not stop us unless we’re doing something stupid (“However I cannot see police wishing to criminalise skateboarders without some sort of other circumstance affecting their decision ( poor riding, causing nuisance etc) and it would be dealt with in each individual case.”)
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In the absence of specific law, the Courts will ultimately decide our fate should we be caught doing something stupid while riding a skateboard. Please do note that the only existing case in UK Courts involving an electric skateboard was due to the rider’s bad behaviour and not because of the use of the skateboard in itself.
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The next step would be to put pressure on local MPs to consider putting forwards laws that protect the skateboarder’s rights and safety in the public highway. Would anyone like to join me in forming a pressure group?
Let me know your thoughts!
Cheers, Ricardo