When is an ebike not an ebike? When it has a powerful illegal engine. Get this menace off our roads | Peter Walker

As a cyclist I want the authorities to act with clarity. Lime bikes and renters can be annoying, but the true threat is those who dangerously flout the law

One of the curiosities of debates about cycling in the UK is that almost all of them centre on the place with the greatest concentration of not only bikes but also politicians and journalists: inner London. Inevitably this is just a small part of the story.

Much of the current focus is on so-called share bikes operated by companies such as Lime and Forest – nippy electric-assist machines that can be picked up and left on pavements. On Saturday, a Guardian investigation revealed that councils in the capital have so far this year seized 3,393 dangerously parked or abandoned ebikes, a number 23% higher than the total for the whole of last year.

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