Appealing a PSPO to the High Court

[hfresident]

Hi,

I am looking to appeal this PSPO to the High Court as I believe that Hammersmith & Fulham Council have erred in law (by defining electrically-assisted pedal cycles as motor vehicles which is in breach of the Road Traffic Act).

I understand, under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, that:

An application under this section must be made within the period of 6 weeks beginning with the date on which the order or variation is made.

However, I'm unclear what date exactly "made" refers to, as there are 3 possible dates on the Council's website:

Publication date: 29/06/2023
Date of decision: 28/06/2023
Effective from: 05/07/2023

This is particularly pertinent as the Council have confirmed to me that the order is not yet effective (i.e. 05/07/2023 is erroneous and hasn't happened yet).

Any help appreciated - thanks.

[des8]

IMO you are incorrect

E-Bikes (EAPC) are motor vehicles.
They are just not treated as motor vehicles when used on roads i.e. do not need to be licensed and registered

The wording of Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 only states that for the purpose of that Act an EAPC "shall be treated as not being a motor vehicle"

The Act does not define an EAPC, it just says that EAPCs which meet certain conditions will not be treated as a motor vehicle. Not all EAPCs meet those conditions.

others might disagree!
Have you tried posting on Pepipoo (http://www.pepipoo.com/) as they are good on RTA questions?

[hfresident]

IMO you are incorrect

E-Bikes (EAPC) are motor vehicles.
They are just not treated as motor vehicles when used on roads i.e. do not need to be licensed and registered

The wording of Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 only states that for the purpose of that Act an EAPC "shall be treated as not being a motor vehicle"

The Act does not define an EAPC, it just says that EAPCs which meet certain conditions will not be treated as a motor vehicle. Not all EAPCs meet those conditions.

others might disagree!
Have you tried posting on Pepipoo (http://www.pepipoo.com/) as they are good on RTA questions?

Appreciate the input - agree with you that there are e-bikes which do and do not meet the EAPC regulations; I didn't give the full context (apologies, was focused on the date question).

Those regulations are the Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycles Regulations 1983, which state that the EAPC class "consists of bicycles or tricycles which comply with the requirements specified in Regulation 4 below". EAPCs are thus legally bicycles or tricycles, an interpretation which is supported by the DfT here: "If a bike meets the EAPC requirements it's classed as a normal pedal bike. This means you can ride it on cycle paths and anywhere else pedal bikes are allowed."

Thus the council can't ban EAPCs without also banning all pedal cycles, which they aren't proposing to do. LBHF have explicitly confirmed to me by email that they do intend to ban all e-bikes including EAPCs. That's where we stand currently.

Have not tried posting there - many thanks for the tip.