Over 1,800 Fines Issued in Chiswick and Brentford for 'Lime Crimes'

Mixed start to eBike trial as badly parked cycles continue to be reported

Bikes parked on pavement in Barrowgate Road right next to designated bay

June 23, 2023

Lime Bikes has published figures for the first few weeks of the operation of its trial scheme in Chiswick and Brentford which show that over 1,800 fines have been issued to users parking cycles outside designated bays.

There have been 9,000 trips made so far which suggests that at least 20% of journeys are ending with bikes being parked incorrectly so-called ‘Lime crimes’. This will not include journeys in which the bike is parked in compliance with the rules but then moved by someone who is not registered with the service.

Hounslow Council has installed 75 parking bays specifically for hire bikes in the W4 and TW8 postcode areas with the intention of extending the scheme to the rest of the borough. The bikes are meant to be geofenced which means it should be impossible to end a hire outside a designated area and customers are asked by Lime to take a photo of the bike in the bay when they have finished using it. Lime says that it reviews all these photos and warns users and issues a fine if they have mis-parked.

Fines start at £2 for the first offence and escalate to £20 for the fifth offence after which the rider will be permanently banned from the service.

Lime says that if a rider parks their bike correctly but does not take an end-trip photo they will not receive a fine for later misuse by another rider. It is thought there continues to be widespread ‘hacking’ of the bikes enabling a degree of unauthorised use and that much of the badly parked bikes are down to this kind of rider.

Reports continue to come in of widespread anti-social parking of bikes with cycles being left across pavements and causing obstruction elsewhere even in the vicinity of the designated bays. It is understood that Lime is making regular sweeps to collect badly parked bikes, but the problem appears to be consistent.

A Lime bike blocking the pavement in Brentford. Picture: Facebook

Cllr Guy Lambert said in his weekly blog for BrentfordTW8.com, “People tell me it’s a fiasco and a plague for ever more but when I cycled back through Chiswick and Brentford this morning, everything was perfect – a number of them in the pens, all upright and none I saw anywhere else, except one that had fallen (or been pushed) over. We’ll be following them closely and one of the traffic officers wrote to me to say “ While these measures are being implemented [modifications to overcome the recent hacks] we fully understand the concerns raised by such antisocial behaviour / vandalism. We are in close contact with Lime to address the situation”. In the meantime, please report problems on FixMyStreet.”

Lime bikes parked in a bay but knocked over. Picture: Brentford Today

Hal Stevenson, Senior Public Affairs Manager at Lime, “Since launching in Hounslow, our service has been met with high demand. This is a great sign of residents’ commitment to active travel, reducing congestion and improving air quality in their local area.

“At Lime, we’re committed to the safe and responsible parking in Hounslow and have provided significant investment for the installation of bays in the area. We will work closely with the council to implement these dedicated parking bays. We’re rolling out these bays in a three phase approach and have currently installed 75 dedicated parking bays and are aiming for approximately 270 bays to be added overall. Each Borough in London has its own unique set of rules for parking. This is why upon launching in any new Borough, we prioritise rider education on the best parking practices. Those who don’t follow these guidelines will receive a warning and a fine, and our ride data shows that 80% of riders do not mis-park again following their first fine.”

With regard to the issue of misuse of bikes and the commonly observed phenomenon of people on bikes making a clicking noise which indicates it has been taken without being booked through the app, Mr Stevenson said, “We are aware of a limited issue relating to the criminal damage and vandalism of our e-bikes. We are implementing a series of measures to prevent this behaviour, with a hardware solution set to be rolled out throughout August and September.

“In the meantime, we are working with the police and local schools to identify, limit and warn against it. We are also in contact with social media platforms, which bear the responsibility of removing criminal content like this if shared by its users.”

Cllr Katherine Dunne, who is responsible for transport in the borough said on social media that council officers continue to provide feedback to Lime on a weekly basis about the operation of the trial. The council is considering the introduction of more bays in areas where there has been high rates of abandonment.

You can send comments on bay location to traffic@hounslow.gov.uk and report abandoned bikes & issues to support@li.me or via the Lime app.