A suspect has been charged with driving offences after police in Bilborough pulled over an electric bike.
City West officers were patrolling the area in a car when an electrically propelled bike passed them at approximately 30 mph.
Seeing that the pedals weren’t being used to reach that speed and that the rider appeared to be using his phone while moving, police started to follow.
This happened around 3.25 pm on Thursday (13 August), with the electric bike almost colliding with a cyclist at one point.
Believing the rider was continuing to use the phone while travelling along Wigman Road towards Beechdale Road, officers switched on their blue lights.
Police intervened and stopped the rider.
On closer inspection, the bike was found not to be a standard e-bike but had instead been fitted with a throttle that allowed it to be propelled without the need for the rider to pedal.
In the UK, a legal electrically assisted pedal cycle should only be able to travel at 15.5 mph without pedalling. Any e-bike that exceeds that is classed as a motor vehicle, so it requires a licence and insurance.
Suspect Muzamil Ashraf, 30, was arrested and later charged with driving without due care and attention and using a handheld phone while driving a motor vehicle.
He was also charged with driving without a licence and using a motor vehicle without insurance.
Ashraf, of Hartley Road, Radford, has been bailed ahead of an appearance at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on 8 September.
Inspector Gordon Fenwick, of Nottinghamshire Police, said:
“Road safety has been a chosen policing priority for our City West team many times in the past and is obviously something we’re still keen to enforce today.
“That goes for each of the many different types of vehicles on our roads and cycle lanes – from cars, vans and motorbikes to e-bikes and e-scooters.
“Anyone who drives a motor vehicle without due care and attention and while using a phone puts others at risk, which is simply not acceptable and will lead to police action.”
