Dealing with an injury is hard enough without navigating a legal process on top of it. We take that off your plate. We handle the legal work, gathering evidence, dealing with insurers, negotiating your settlement, while you focus on recovering.
This page is about rental scheme bikes. If you were riding your own e-bike, or an ordinary bicycle, our cycling and pedestrian guidance is the right place to start. For scooters, see e-scooter accident claims.
What kinds of rental e-bike accident do we handle?
Injured while riding a rental e-bike
Lime, Forest and similar schemes, where a driver, a hazard or the bike itself caused the collision.
Hit by a rental e-bike as a pedestrian
On a pavement, a crossing or a shared path, including collisions with riders on the wrong side of the line.
Faulty or poorly maintained bikes
Brake, gear, battery or frame failures the operator should have caught before the bike went back out.
Badly parked and abandoned bikes
Bikes left blocking a pavement or dropped kerb, where someone tripped over or was forced into the road.
Road and cycle lane defects
Potholes, raised ironwork and unlit obstructions, where the surface itself contributed to the accident.
Collisions with a vehicle
Drivers who failed to see or give way to a rider at a junction or when overtaking.
What if I was partly at fault?
Partial fault doesn't necessarily prevent a claim. Where responsibility is shared, compensation may simply be reduced proportionally. This is called contributory negligence. It's always worth asking rather than assuming you don't have a claim. To be clear, there's no legal requirement to wear a cycle helmet in the UK, so not wearing one doesn't itself affect your right to claim.
Who is responsible for a rental e-bike accident?
Liability can sit with the rider, the scheme operator, a driver, or occasionally a local council, depending on what actually caused the accident. More than one of them can be responsible at once, which is usually good news for the person who was injured.
If you were injured by a rider, this is generally treated much like any other road traffic accident. The rider owes other road users and pedestrians the same duty of care as anyone else.
If you were riding a rental e-bike yourself when a collision happened, whether you have a claim depends on what caused it: a driver's negligence, a fault with the bike itself, or a hazard the scheme operator or council should have addressed.
Where the bike was the problem, the operator is the party to look at. Schemes track their bikes closely, so there is often a maintenance history, a fault report, or trip data showing exactly where a bike had been and what had been said about it. That evidence exists, and it is worth asking for.
What you could receive
Compensation for a rental e-bike accident claim typically covers two things: general damages, for the pain, suffering and impact on your life, and special damages, your actual financial losses such as lost earnings, medical costs, travel to appointments and damaged property.
We'll talk you through what's realistic for your specific situation once we've reviewed the details. We won't overpromise, and we won't quote a figure before we've properly understood your case.