A delay to new laws on e-scooters has been criticised by businesses and campaigners, who accuse the government of missing an opportunity to tighten up safety rules.
E-scooters are widely sold and seen, but are currently only legal on private land or through trial hire schemes.
There was no mention of new laws in the King’s Speech, meaning legislation will be delayed.
Instead, the government has promised to extend existing trials until May 2026.
It told the BBC this was “to gather further evidence as the technology develops, to ensure that any future legislation strikes the right balance between safety, user responsibility and market growth”.
It also promised to consult later this year on possible regulations, including minimum rider age and maximum speed.
New legislation on e-scooters was announced in the Queen’s Speech in May 2022.
At the moment, e-scooters can only be legally ridden on the roads through trial hire schemes that have been set up in dozens of towns and cities.
The e-scooters in these trials are limited to 15.5mph and have automatic lights as a safety feature.
But there was no mention of e-scooters in Tuesday’s Queen’s Speech, alarming campaigners and businesses.
National shared transport charity Collaborative Mobility UK (CoMoUK), which supports the use of e-scooters and whose members include companies involved in trials, warned that the UK was falling behind the rest of the world with its “lack of action” on e-scooters.
New laws would ensure that e-scooters, whether rented or privately owned, are subject to high safety standards, CoMoUK said.
It estimates that there are 750,000 privately owned, unregulated e-scooters currently in use in the UK.
Dott, which provides e-scooter hire in London, warned that the delay in the policy meant the UK was missing out on the benefits of e-scooters. “By further delaying certainty around the future of e-scooters, it is difficult to justify long-term investment in the UK.
The safety of e-scooters has been the subject of much debate. But for those representing vulnerable pedestrians, new legislation could be an opportunity to address concerns.
The charity Guide Dogs said it was “disappointed” by the delay in legislation to “address the problems caused by the anti-social use of e-scooters”.
It urged the government to introduce legislation as soon as possible.
The charity has previously said that anti-social use of e-scooters is particularly dangerous for people with sight loss because of their weight, speed, silence and because they are often ridden on pavements.
Trial schemes for rental e-scooters in towns and cities in England have also presented challenges, with rental e-scooters being abandoned on pavements, it argued.
Guide Dogs would like to see mandatory docked parking for rental e-scooters, strict controls on their weight, power and speed, and enforcement when they are misused.