Retailers including Amazon have been accused of “dangerous and irresponsible” behaviour for selling devices that allow electric bikes to be upgraded to illegal speeds from as little as £99.
Road safety campaigners say there are likely to be more deaths from e-bike collisions unless the government bans the products.
The law states that e-bikes are only allowed to travel at up to 15.5mph on public roads and those that go above this speed must be licensed and insured. As a result, all mainstream manufacturers use software or other tools to limit the speed their e-bikes can travel. However, this has fuelled a growing industry of “chipping” or “tuning” where owners either remove the restrictions or buy devices to override them. Some e-bike owners even double
