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Police seized a legal cargo e-bike in UK after allegedly flawed roadside inspection.
Cops spun lifted rear wheel to prove it could go above legal 15.5 mph maximum.
Owner says officers ignored rational explanation before destroying pricey Tern GSD.
Most cyclists worry about thieves stealing their bike. One rider in the UK had a different problem entirely. His expensive e-bike was taken by police, declared illegal, and destroyed, despite the machine complying with the law all along.
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The case centers on a Tern GSD cargo bike owned by Birmingham resident Matin Zandi. The electrically assisted bicycle was reportedly worth around £6,000 ($8,000) and had been supplied through a city-backed program designed to encourage cleaner transportation options.
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According to a BBC report, the bike was seized during an operation targeting illegal high-powered electric two-wheelers such as the Sur-Ron Light Bee. Those machines often resemble bicycles but operate more like electric mopeds because they have significantly more power and require little or no pedaling.
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The problem is that Zandi’s Tern wasn’t one of them. The three-seat cargo bike’s motor assistance is restricted to the legal threshold required under UK regulations, which limits e-help to 15.5 mph (25 km/h).
Flawed Test
But officers concluded the e-bike exceeded the permitted limit after conducting a roadside test involving lifting the rear wheel and spinning the pedals manually, which easily got the digital speedo to read a much higher mph figure. It’s like propping up a Citroen 2CV on cinder blocks to prove it can do 100 mph (161 km/h).
Body camera footage reviewed by the BBC reportedly shows Zandi attempting to explain why the test didn’t demonstrate what officers believed it did. According to the report, the procedure merely showed how fast the wheel could be turned manually rather than proving the motor itself was providing illegal assistance.
Zandi said he repeatedly tried to persuade cops they had made the wrong call. “We tried to convince the police officers to accept their mistake but they didn’t,” he told the BBC.
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Possible License Penalty
The consequences went beyond losing the expensive bike. To add insult to injury, Zandi was also informed he could face a fine and penalty points on his license. He’s now challenging the decision in court with support from Cycling UK, Tern, and Birmingham Bike Foundry. Advocacy groups told the BBC similar mistakes have affected other lawful mobility devices, including equipment used by disabled riders.
For its part, West Midlands Police says it has received a complaint regarding the seizure and is reviewing the matter. Unfortunately for the owner, that review comes too late for the bike itself, which, despite being worth as much as a decent used car , has already been reduced to scrap.
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Tern
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