A Putney police officer was injured this week stopping an illegal e-scooter rider, one of two traffic enforcement actions by the same local team in the space of two days.
It is the most visible traffic enforcement Putney has seen after more than a year of residents complaining that dangerous cycling and illegal e-scooters go largely unchallenged. Police have been warning about one behaviour in particular. Cyclists wait for the pedestrian lights to turn green, then weave between the people still crossing, so pedestrians face the greatest danger at the very moment they have right of way.
PC Damian was hurt on Wednesday stopping a rider on an uninsured e-scooter near Putney High Street. He carried on working rather than take sick leave, and the rider was arrested.
The next day, on Lacy Road, the same Thamesfield team ticketed a cyclist for going through a red light. The rider, police noted, holds a driving licence.
Both stops were reported by PCSO Eva Knedlova through MetEngage, the Met’s free community alert service. Of her injured colleague, she wrote that ‘we all wish him a quick recovery whilst he decided to carry on’.
Residents have flagged the problem for more than a year. In February, one counted four cyclists ignoring the new signals on a single walk from Putney to Parsons Green, and described road users ‘experiencing delay and frustration’ that was feeding risky behaviour.
The Putney Bridge junction was rebuilt for more than £1m, work the council said would improve safety ‘for all road users’. The Putney cycling debate has paid far less attention to the other side, to the pedestrians put at risk when a rider treats the green man as cover.
What the law says, and how to report it
Private e-scooters are illegal to ride on any public road, pavement or cycle lane in England, a rule many riders either do not know or choose to ignore. Because these scooters cannot be insured, anyone caught riding one faces the same penalties as a driver with no insurance, on top of having the machine seized and points added to any licence they hold.
This applies to e-scooters, not e-bikes: an electric bike that has working pedals and stops assisting the rider at 15.5mph counts as an ordinary bicycle, and can be ridden legally without a licence or insurance.
The Thamesfield team has asked residents for help, ending one alert with a request to ‘let us know if there are places where traffic enforcement is needed’. The ward team can be reached at Thamesfield@met.police.uk, non-urgent matters go to 101, and anyone in immediate danger should call 999. The same alert warns cyclists on hire bikes to check whether their insurance still covers them if they cause damage, because the hire company may not pay out.
