E-scooters in Bracknell: are they a town centre problem?

And the zippy devices seem to split opinions, with some loving the gadgets and others wishing they would stay away.

When the News asked readers for their thoughts on the scooters last year, you responded in your droves.

One said: “The E-Scooters are a menace, suddenly there is one right up close to you & a lot of the riders do it on purpose. It’s worrying because you feel vulnerable, you don’t hear them coming.”

Another disagreed, however, adding: “The e-scooters are a genuinely environmentally friendly mode of transport and should be promoted not condemned.”

It is a similar story in Reading, with Chronicle readers seemingly split down the middle on e-scooters.

So last week this prompted me to walk around Reading to see if e-scooters were an issue or not.

This week, I took to The Lexicon to carry out the same experiment.

If the law was being followed, I shouldn’t have seen any being ridden-- e-scooters qualify as ‘powered transporters’ and are therefore required to have MOT, tax, licensing and insurance.

As e-scooters can’t currently meet these requirements, riding a privately-owned e-scooter on a public road, or another public place, is a road traffic offence.

READ MORE: E-scooter rules explained according to Thames Valley Police

I visited Bracknell town centre on Tuesday, June 15, starting at The Ring at 2pm.

Moving onto Eagle Lane, there were no signs of scooters here or down The Avenue or Braccan Walk.

But I spotted the first e-scooter of the day at around 2.15pm on High Street, being wheeled away by a McDonald’s employee.

No danger here -- the employee was making sure to walk his device away from shoppers.

He did eventually start riding it further down High Street past the former Peacocks store, picking up a considerable speed but at a safe distance from pedestrians.

I did another lap of the town centre to find another e-scooter user sat down with their device outside McDonald’s on High Street.

I couldn’t say what danger they presented, clearly, but it was another to add to the e-scooter tally.

I spotted the same women with a group of friends pushing their e-scooter past Costa some 20 minutes later.

They were walking their device down the path so they were not endangering anyone at that point.

So only two e-scooters spotted in around 45 minutes of walking around the town centre. Of course, I may have seen more had I stayed for longer, or had I visited on the weekend or in the afternoon, but that’s hard to determine.

In light of the few scooters I managed to catch, I decided to ask shoppers for their thoughts on the devices.

READ MORE: 'dangerous' e-scooters prompts warning from police chief

The first group I came across was a group of friends named Joshua, Yasmin and James.

James told me he worked at GAME on High Street and that he sees them driving past the store “non-stop”.

Left to right, Joshua, Yasmin, James

Joshua, who is training to be a police officer, said more effort should be made to clamp down on people riding the devices.

He said: “It’s most definitely more the user than about the actual scooter. It’s more about the responsibility of the rider than the scooters themselves.

Yasmin said she had almost been hit by one in an underpass when she had her earphones in and was shocked to see one “zoom past” her.

I stopped another couple shortly afterwards to chat to them about their thoughts on e-scooters.

Matt told me he had had a ‘near-miss’ with one of the devices earlier that day.

READ MORE: Police seize first e-scooter in Bracknell following residents' concerns

He said: “We were pushing my baby in the pram just down the pathway and a kid on an e-scooter moved towards us at some speed and wouldn’t stop.

“I said to him ‘we’ve got a baby!’, and he replied ‘what’s your problem?’

“I replied ‘we’ve got a baby and you’re coming at us with quite a force, we can’t move anywhere, so you can get off your scooter’.

“He told us to ‘f*** off and went off on his scooter.’”

But Matt said he didn’t think more should be done to clamp down on people riding them.

He continued: “They’re silent, so if they had a bit of a noise you could hear them coming up behind you and it would be okay.

“I don’t mind it. You see them a lot but generally I think they’re okay.”

Another shopper, who did not want to be named, added: “You get some teenagers or young adults who go a bit mad, but the majority are fine.”

And finally, I spoke to Damien outside Holland and Barrett.

READ MORE: E-scooter riders and bikers doing 'wheelies' in town have 'no respect' councillor says

He said: “We’re in the grey area with them at the moment; are they legal, where should they be?

Damien

“But moving forwards, it’s better than taking a car to town, so there is a future for them.

“I’ve seen them whizz up and down here and if the security is around I see them jump off so they know they shouldn’t riding them.

“I haven’t had any problems with them but people have had near-misses with them.

“It’s going to take an accident [before more is done to clamp down on them]. That’s how it always happens, someone will get hurt and then something will happen.”

Later, having left The Lexicon, I spoke to Rob Francis, who had previously aired his views to the News about e-scooters.

He told me: “I find it really disappointing that, despite a token social media campaign by Thames Valley Police, it seems little, if anything is done by their officers to enforce the law.

“I think e-scooters are a potentially great and eco-friendly mode of transport, but trials are being conducted on their safety for a good reason.

READ MORE: Woman's scooter burned and destroyed by vandals

“That, plus the fact that they’re uninsurable right now, as well as illegal in 99.9 per cent of the real-world situations people currently use them for, means that users should leave them at home until they are legally allowed to use them.

“Of course, the fact that they can even be bought in the first place is nonsensical.

“Their time will come, but we’re not there yet.

“I worry that the Police not enforcing this law is a dangerous precedent.”

So those are the thoughts of Bracknell shoppers and residents, what are your views?

Let us know in the comments!