Anger grows over 'dumped' Lime bikes across Haringey

Haringey Council is currently operating a dockless bike trial with both Lime and Forest but the scheme is now being widely criticised, reports Hannah Bentley

Lime bikes left strewn across a pavement in Haringey (credit Hannah Bentley)

Around 100 complaints have been made about a dockless bike trial in Haringey – as the two companies involved are urged to “take responsibility” for hazards on pavements.

Since both Lime and Forest expanded into the borough last February, under a trial agreement with Haringey Council, residents have become increasingly angry at dockless bikes being left strewn across pavements. If parked incorrectly the bikes often create accessibility issues, particularly for partially-sighted pedestrians and wheelchair users.

New statistics obtained through a Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request reveals that Haringey Council has received approximately 100 complaints about Lime and Forest bikes since the dockless bike hire scheme was introduced – although the “majority” of these have been in response to Lime bikes specifically.

The scheme was introduced as part of Haringey’s action plans on tackling climate change and boosting walking and cycling. It allows the bike companies to operate a total of 1,300 e-bikes in Haringey and has seen monthly ridership to skyrocket from 83,600 to 149,600.

The majority of complaints refer to non-compliant parking of bikes, blocking footways and causing accessibility issues, as well as Lime’s slow response times for redeploying obstructive bikes.

Keith Fair, operations manager at The Markfield Project, a local disability charity, claims the council should have “never introduced the dockless bikes in the first place”. He said: “They cause so many problems for people with crutches, canes and wheelchairs. Sometimes we have to clear our entrance path to allow our service users to access the building.

“[Lime’s] business model is lacking; they’re making money and don’t care about what happens to the bikes. It has to be properly managed.”

In September, the council responded to parking complaints by doubling the number of parking bays, but for many locals this has had little impact. Haringey resident Dr Cary Bazalgette, 83, a long-time cyclist with age-related mobility issues, said: “I am fed up with these giant heavy bikes parked casually across the pavement. If I had the strength, I’d pick them up and move them. We need some way of punishing lazy riders who leave them on pavements.”

In November, council leader Peray Ahmet posted a video on X discussing the borough’s issues with dockless bikes. She said: “We are all fed up of seeing bikes […] dumped on our streets. Pedestrians, disabled and older people, those with pushchairs and buggies are finding it really difficult to come out of their own house and walk down the street, and it’s simply not on.

“Of course we want people to cycle more, but not at the expense of people’s safety. We are looking at measures to ensure fairness and accessibility on our streets. Lime needs to take much more responsibility if they want to keep operating in Haringey.”

The scheme is up for review in nine months, but with other London councils moving to ban the bright green bikes, residents want to see a drastic change in the way e-bike companies are regulated if the scheme is to continue in Haringey.

Alice Pleasant, senior public affairs manager at Lime, said: “When parking, all Lime users are required to take an ‘end-trip photo’ […] reviewed by our AI technology, enabling us to better identify and address instances of poor parking. Users that break the rules and park inconsiderately are fined and banned from using our service.

“We have bolstered our Lime parking patrol to correct misparked bikes and overcrowded bays and last year, we also invested £1million in a parking infrastructure fund to create more dedicated e-bike parking across the city. As a result of these measures, 95% of parked Lime bikes in London are now parked un-obstructively.

“We work closely with boroughs, partners and other operators to address the issue by identifying and offering funding from Lime to create new parking bays. We also gather feedback from Sight Loss Councils and other charities on our disability advisory board in order to continuously improve our operations.

“We are committed to removing bikes parked obstructively or discarded within twelve hours once reported. In the event that our bikes are causing an immediate obstruction or danger, our parking patrol will have them removed within two hours once reported. We now have a team of over 250 people that work on-street to help manage the fleet and remove or tidy obstructive vehicles, and we’ll be increasing this number over the coming months.

“We are continuing to work to address any complaints in Haringey by enforcing mandatory parking, improving our response time to any issues raised so we can resolve these complaints, supporting active travel and sustainability ambitions, and bolstering our on-street team who tidy misparked bikes and overcrowded bays.”

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