Forum Topic

White scooters parked in rows - what are they for?

I've been away for a couple of months and have come back to see multiple rows of white scooters with white boxes on the back parked in rows on the residential streets. Does anyone know what they're for or where they came from? Thanks

Tim English ● 422d40 Comments

Residents put a lot of effort into keeping areas clean and clear of weeds where they live now,

Janice Evans ● 294d

Hi Andrew! Just to say it wasn’t me who moved it! Best,Cormac

Cormac Auty ● 295d

Who always told you that, Philippa ?

Madeleine Hazard ● 295d

Not sure about thatYou better post a link to clarify this or i will have to dismiss what people have always told you.

Julian Pavey ● 295d

The posts from Gill and Peter are correct. In the Ealing W4 area the owner of the mopeds is Otto. I was contacted pre Xmas about the bikes/mopeds being left in particular roads taking up parking space. Currently the Council can not do anything-unless they change the rules on moped parking which as Gill says they are thinking of doing. I have no idea about the mopeds in St Peter's Sq.After a couple of phone calls to Otto, some bikes were moved and to some extent the issue had died down-clearly it is back with a vengence. I have been contacted by Otto this week as someone had moved one of their bikes and they had received a ticket, which they were very unhappy about.As already posted, there is no action the Council can currently take. I suggest using the numbers provided by Peter or leave messages on their 'chat' facility on their website. Quite why they have this surplus of mopeds is difficult to fathom, their own site is chocker-a-block with them.Happy to engage direct with anyone.

Andrew Steed ● 295d

I was always told it was the Queen's or King's Highway and just because you lived on it didn't mean that you owned it.

Philippa Bond ● 295d

I couldn’t agree more Gill! 👍

Georgina Flint ● 295d

Let's put politics aside here. The damned things are taking up space which could otherwise be used by residents who pay to park in CPZ's. Otto's have been approached by local councillors and members of the public and have promised to move them ....no action so far. They are taking advantage of the rules re parking mopeds for commercial benefit. Our streets should not be used as parking for their surplus stocks of bikes. Simples!

Gill Thomas ● 295d

Labour types don’t do jokes, apart from making Ed Milliband and Jeremy Corbyn leader!But Anne’s post rather sums up the attitude of a certain faction running things. Nobody is allowed an opinion about where they live unless it tallies with the ‘values’ of particular pressure groups and their political gimps.

Simon Hayes ● 297d

I thought his message was funny. It was obviously tongue-in-cheek 😆

Georgina Flint ● 297d

'one of their parking bays'? - nobody owns a part of the road. If you reckon you do, how much did you pay for it? Road tax has nothing to do with it.

Anne England ● 298d

Naughty but nice 😂

Georgina Flint ● 298d

If anyone wants one of their parking bays back, I’ll happily help you move the scooters over the bay lines…

Cormac Auty ● 298d

Just seen one of these scooters with a parking ticket as it was outside a bay. What happens now?

Cormac Auty ● 298d

That may just have been waiting to be challenged.

Maggie Dodge ● 394d

Thanks for visiting - that was brave !If you think it's grossly unfair for this company to be storing its unused stock free of charge in streets within CPZ's, then please contact the Parking department at Ealing Council. Email parkingservices@ealing.gov.ukResidents put up with pressure on parking all the time whether car, moped or motorbike drivers. Otto Scooters are taking advantage of a loophole in CPZ regulations to store their excess stock at our inconvenience

Gill Thomas ● 394d

I visited them yesterday.Not at all happy to be questioned 'we are doing nothing illegal' quite true They have 50/60 parked at their site and are packing them into St Peters square - 25- todate.Who knows the local councellors to take up this ause of the regulations??One of Otto's team is on 02034358104 and seemed to be listening??

oliver leigh-wood ● 396d

If anyone feels like asking Otto Scooters about this, the number given for customer services is 02038322538.

Peter Evans ● 399d

According to their website, the ‘head office’ of Otto Scooters, which provides delivery scooters like these, is just over the railway track in Greenock Road, so that might explain why they’re storing these vehicles in the nearby streets. See: https://ottoscooter.co.uk/

Peter Evans ● 399d

The streets around where I live have lost at least four residents parking spots to rows of these scooters

Tim English ● 399d

Exactly. Would love more bike hangers instead! Would take up just as much room and people would actually use the space that would have been taken up by one car. This is a ridiculous situation

Edward Kent ● 400d

How would you define your use of the word "dumped"?  Are you using the word for a number of Lime bikes placed on the pavement ready for use - or left on the pavement having been used?

Philippa Bond ● 401d

I was walking through St. Peter's Square earlier today which is in Hammersmith and Fulham and there are about eight there.

Felicity Caborn ● 401d

They have insulated boxes on the back so clearly intended for take away food deliveries.Importantly they don't have pedals so as far as I know they need to be taxed, insured and MoT'ed in the same way as a petrol driven job.Having said that the regulations are as clear as mud and depend on output of the electric motor etc.

Adrian Irving ● 407d

Sorry, but I don't think that's the point here...no one seems to be using them, and they are very obviously part of a commercial scheme as they are identical and chained up. The point is that they are unlikely being used by residents who pay heftily to park in their own roads, often struggling to find somewhere to park in the evening. I don't have any objection at all to residents who drive mopeds and motorbikes parking within residents controlled zones (some of my best friends etc...) nor Zip users for example, but this just seems completely unfair.The issue is concentrated within one of the wards in W4 within Ealing's boundary. I don't know if there are any other roads affected in Hounslow or the H&F areas. The fact that most of the roads within Acton Green have spaces taken out might point to an organisation operating within South Acton industrial estate, but this is pure conjecture. We are also plagued by Lime bikes being dumped on pavements by the Bollo Lane crossing by the entrance to Chiswick Business Park.Bedford Park doesn't seem to have been targeted......

Gill Thomas ● 408d

With 4 to one car space surely they are preferable to one car per person?

Philippa Bond ● 408d

I raised this with one of our councillors who basically said nothing can be gone about them as mopeds can park anywhere and don't require permits. He intimated that the Council might introduce permits for mopeds. They don't seem to move much. Another example of someone taking advantage of a loophole to dodge costs. Hope the new and many skyscrapers due and being built will not be inhabited by moped owners or we will never be able to park at home again.

Gill Thomas ● 408d

I understand Zoo cars have a similar arrangement for parking in residents bays.

Mark Frost ● 408d

Seen these for the first time Weston rd A ton Green.4 taking up a car length.This winds me up really,space at a premium , council must be taking a nice little earner. Those bikes are about £5k a pop.A lot of investment going somewhere.

Pete Smith ● 409d

I walked past some of these electric scooters this morning.  There is no company branding on them but I checked the make, Askoll esPro, on the internet.  It looks like these scooters might belong to Otto Scooter or a similar set-up. Otto Scooter, who are based in W3, offers electric scooters for hire and seem primarily aimed at delivery riders as they are partnered with Zoom, Gopuff, Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Pizza Hut and Dominos. Hounslow, Ealing and, I believe, Hammersmith&Fulham councils allow motorbikes to park for free in residents parking bays.  If a company is using this exception to store their bikes or they have a formal agreement to do so, you would have to check with the relevant councils.

Mary Oppe ● 409d

What do the Council parking people say. Are they illegally parked? Anyone asked?

Maggie Dodge ● 409d

As a guess im wondering if its a scooter hire Co that actually does not have the space for them being they are all new,white with blank white boxes on the back. Or a new atart up co with no space yet.Best i can come up with or are they new unmarked scooters for a delivery Co

Julian Pavey ● 410d

My thoughts too. No one seems to know, but they are in residents bays and haven't been ticketed

Tim English ● 410d

There are also loads of them in St Peter's Square too. Was wondering what they're for and if the residents mind...

S Powell ● 411d

Bump. Does anyone have any further ideas why these bikes are parked all over the roads near Chiswick Park tube?

Tim English ● 411d

There's a Deliveroo kitchen somewhere on Stirling Road, but these bike aren't branded and haven't moved for weeks. They're in the resident, pay and display bays. I thought they were for hire like Lime bikes but it doesn't seem so.

Tim English ● 419d

Wasn't there a thread on here some time back about a 12 story kitchen building opening in the bollo lane area? Maybe they're connected to that?Just a thought.

Tina Gallacher ● 420d

Someone must know more

Maggie Dodge ● 421d

There was around 40 of them of Greenock Rd (in the industrial estate off Bollo Lane) a few months ago, since then they've been spread around the residential streets nearby. My guess is they're being being refurbished for sale (some have stickers on with repair status) and are from some failed delivery company originally. Not sure they should be allowed to dump them on residential streets for storage.....

Rhys Cash ● 421d

I noticed these yesterday for the first time, would also be interedted to know what they are for!

Chris Blackwell ● 422d