E-Scooter-ing a Shameless Minister For Rent

As the government disgracefully announces they’ll be allowing rentable e-scooters on Britain’s roads, Matthew Steeples asks: “Who gave ‘a Robert Jenrick’?” to get this multi-million market going

‘Doing a Bernie’ became the stock description of a political bung of £1 million in the Blair years and now, in ‘Bosie The Clown’ Britain, it seems ‘a Robert Jenrick’ should be the description for a much cheaper option: A £12,000 donation that allegedly could have “handed Tory donor [Richard Desmond an] extra £106 million.”

Now, at a time when coronavirus deaths look set to once again spike with what is sadly going on in Leicester being our starter-for-ten, our government has decided to put lives at risk in another totally avoidable way. Last night, in announcing that the ban on rentable e-scooters will be lifted on Britain’s roads for 12 months, Tory transport minister Rachel Maclean did just such and now this moronic woman also leaves herself open to questions of sleaze as well.

Under Maclean’s new rules, set to come into play from Saturday, rental scooters will be allowed on roads, but not pavements. Privately owned e-scooters, for now, however, will continue to be illegal.

Opening up a line for substantial profits for those set to own and manage rental e-scooter operations, Maclean is endangering the public quite unnecessarily. Whilst she argues that her scheme will “ease the burden on the transport network… and allow for social distancing,” she neglects to mention that in July last year, YouTuber Emily Hartridge died after being struck by a lorry in Battersea whilst riding an e-scooter on the road. There have been many injuries as a result of accidents caused by these ridiculous contraptions in addition on both roads and pavements.

Last night, in response to the news, registered blind disability awareness campaigner Deborah Farley-Persaud told the BBC: “[E-scooters] are frightening because you can’t hear them and you can’t see them.” Mrs Farley-Pesaud was “injured last year following a collision with an e-scooter” in Old Street and now “does not feel safe to go out.” She added: “They clearly haven’t got any regard for the rules of the road,” whilst previously Colin Wingrove of the Metropolitan Police stated: “Electric scooters should not be on the pavement or the road.”

As was pointed out by Inc. in their winter 2018/2019 edition, one e-scooter rental operator in America, Bird, was alone valued at £1.6 billion. The numbers involved in this new market are potentially colossal and now, in the UK, the questions that need to be answered are:

• “What donations have those who’ll be operating e-scooter rental businesses in Britain given to the Conservative Party to date?”

• And: “Who’s been Robert Jenrick-ed?”

Facebook: @TheSteepleTimes

Instagram: @TheSteepleTimes

Twitter: @SteepleTimes and @M_Steeples