Youths who steal Lime bikes for batteries ‘pose serious fire risk’

A COUNCILLOR says young thieves stealing Lime bike batteries are causing a serious fire risk to people's homes.

- By RUCSANDRA MOLDOVEANU

Stapleford North councillor Richard MacRae said that youths steal the bikes and take them to Stapleford to vandalise them. Control panels and batteries are then stripped from them and attached to normal mountain bikes.

Councillor MacRae said: “There is a big problem. It’s a very small amount of youngsters that do this.

“The majority of them are doing good stuff. I don’t like it when people say all youngsters are to blame because it's only a minority of them.

“But some of them convert their mountain bikes into electric bikes. They’re clever, they know what they're doing. But it’s illegal.”

Councillor MacRae said the youngsters then use different chargers than those required for their new vehicles, posing a great fire risk.

“They do this inside people's houses or garages. You get one bike that’s a bit dodgy and you've got a fire.

“It really concerns me that this is happening. It's dangerous. I've reported lots of bikes to Lime and I'm sure other people have. They shouldn’t even be in Stapleford.”