Illegal e-bikes impact legitimate sales - shop

A cycle shop business says staff often face aggression from customers when they refuse to repair illegal e-bikes on health and safety grounds.

Richardsons Cycles, an independent sales and repair shop with branches in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Norfolk, said the rise in illegal e-bikes was also affecting sales of legal electric cycles.

Carmen Orga, of Pearl and Parker, which owns the business, said repair requests had become "a real issue", adding that some customers "get aggressive" on refusal.

Peterborough's Labour MP, Andrew Pakes, is calling on the government to ban the sale of illegal e-bikes and the conversion kits used to build them, describing them as a "menace".

Orga added: "If these illegal e-bikes do go wrong, they expect us to repair them. On occasions [they] can become aggressive when we refuse to help.

"They bring them into the shop and think we should be able to repair anything. But we won't touch them as they are illegal and we can only do legal motors.

"We can fix a puncture but won't fix anything electric on them."

She added that illegal e-bikes were having a noticeable effect on the business.

Legal e-bikes can travel up to 15.5mph (25km/h) and must have a motor of no more than 250 watts.

Once a bike no longer meets the legal definition of an e-bike, it can be treated as a motor vehicle under road traffic law. That means riders may need insurance, a driving licence, vehicle registration and an approved helmet.

Between April 2025 and March 2026, Cambridgeshire Police seized 126 e-bikes from across the county.

Nationally, police seizures of e-bikes increased by 83% over the same period, rising from 3,858 to 7,049, according to Home Office data.

Pakes called the vehicles "a menace in Peterborough" and added: "Enforcement alone can't fix this.

"Every illegal e-bike taken off our streets can be replaced by another bought online within minutes.

"That's why I'm backing calls for the government to close this loophole for good, by banning the sale of illegal e-bikes and the conversion kits used to build them."

The government said it had introduced new powers allowing police to seize vehicles being used anti-socially without first issuing a warning.

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