'Out of control' gig riders putting people at risk

A surge in bad practices being seen among people working in Brighton and Hove's gig economy are putting residents at risk of accident and injury, it has been claimed.

Brighton and Hove City Council, together with Sussex Police, held an engagement day on Wednesday in a bid to encourage these 'gig riders' to be safer on the roads.

Sarah Gayton, the street access campaign coordinator at the National Federation of the Blind, says this growing trend is "horrendous".

"They jump red lights, they ride on pavements, leave their bikes outside shops... they're literally out of control," she told BBC Radio Sussex.

Councillor Trevor Muten, cabinet member for transport and city infrastructure, says the gig economy is valuable to the city but that "there are issues with safety and anti-social riding".

He said: "Residents are seeing and observing riders who are clearly not abiding by the traffic regulations and rules of the city...and risking injury and accident as a result."

In acknowledgment of this growing problem, council road safety officers and those from Sussex Police met with riders to offer "really good advice about how to be safe and legal [on the roads]".

According to Ms Gayton, one issue is the number of illegally modified bikes in circulation.

She said: "People are using [them] because they want to get the food there quickly, but this comes at the expense of blind/visually impaired people."

The campaign coordinator is advocating for all of these bikes to be taken off the roads. "Seize and crush, that's it," Ms Gayton said, adding that she favours IDs for those which are legal.

"These actions do have real life consequences for people that can navigate the urban environment on their own, but this is absolutely putting them off," she said.

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