MORE than 1,500 complaints have been made about Voi e-scooter riders - with the company dishing out hundreds of bans.

Two people riding the two-wheeled scooters prompted nearly 650 complaints to Southampton City Council.

Pavement riding sparked 523 complaints while dangerous riders were reported 361 times.

Some 48 underage riders were reported, and one drunk rider was recorded in complaint data obtained by the Echo under the Freedom of Information Act. The comp

The distinctive e-scooters were launched in 2021 as part of a city-wide trial to provide transport alternatives during the Covid-19 pandemic. More than a million rides have been completed since the trial started.

Southampton City Council provided complaint data covering between March 2021 to February 13 this year.

But Voi has revealed it has banned 52 people for life, while also issuing 1,243 temporary bans.

In a statement, Voi said: “Safety is always our top priority at Voi and we actively encourage our riders to follow safety advice and ride considerately - as the vast majority of them do. 

“We take action against inconsiderate riders ranging from warnings, to banning them from riding again until they have completed our online safety training, and lifetime bans.

“As a result of these incidents, we issued 1,243 bans, including 52 lifetime bans.

“Since we started operating in Southampton in March 2021, our e-scooters have been used for 1.1 million journeys.

“Anyone who spots inconsiderate riding can report it directly to Voi at report.voi.com and we will deal with it.”

Shirley resident Tony Weafer, 69, said he sees problems with e-scooters - including privately-owned e-scooters - every day.

He said: “It’s an accident waiting to happen.”

He added: “A lot of people that are riding those scooters are far too young, buzzing through crowds on the pavement without slowing down.

“Most of these kids won’t have a driving licence so they’re not supposed to be on the scooters anyway.

“It could be dangerous for mums with young children because it only takes for someone to suddenly stop and you’ll get one of these scooters in the back of you.”

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Daily Echo:

The council said the number of complaints is a "very small proportion" of the total number of rides.

A spokesperson said: “Since the launch of the scheme in March 2021, there has been (more than) one million rides in Southampton and the number of recorded complaints totals 1,582.

“Therefore, this represents a very small proportion of the total rides made in the city.  

“As a new and popular form of transport establishes, safety is our number one priority for riders, pedestrians and other road users.

“To ride a Voi e-scooter, users need to be over 18 years old and have at least a provisional driver’s licence.

“Voi e-scooters are fitted with number plates in three visible areas of the e-scooter so that they can be easily identified and operate a 3-strike policy through which reported incidents of anti-social behaviour or misuse will lead to temporary or permanent bans.”

A spokesperson for Hampshire police added: “We encourage the public to continue to report any nuisance use of e-scooters to us.

“This will allow local teams to gauge an accurate understanding of the areas effected and the impact, which will in turn inform any future engagement work with riders and whether any further appropriate action is necessary.”