REDDITCH’S e-scooter trial will be paused this week after Bird, the company that provides the scooters, announced the end of its contract with the council.

Bird Rides UK has confirmed that they are ending their contract with Redditch Borough Council to operate the town’s e-scooter trial.

It means the current scooter service in Redditch will end on Wednesday, July 12.

This follows calls from Redditch Labour Party to pause the trial after a public meeting last month discussing the use of e-scooters in the borough.

The group sent a letter to Rachel Maclean MP, leader of Redditch Borough Council Cllr Matt Dormer and chief executive of Redditch Borough Council, Kevin Dicks calling for a pause on the trial.

A spokesperson for Bird said: “Bird is proud of the success of our trial in Redditch and of the more than 120,000 rides on our scooters.

“These rides have saved 4.2 metric tons of CO2 emissions and have become an integral part of people’s daily commute.

“The trial has further shown the high safety level of Bird scooters with an incident rate of 0.00007 per cent rides in Redditch in 2022.”

Redditch Advertiser: Bird e-scooters.Bird e-scooters. (Image: Bird)

Leader of Redditch Borough Council, Cllr Matt Dormer, said there are ‘undoubtedly lessons to be learned across the board’.

He said: “This is why trial periods like this exist, to get to the heart of the matter.

“So far the trial in Redditch has shown that public e-scooters get a lot of use and come with some risks.

“As it turns out, there will in any case be a natural pause in the trial, as Bird has notified us that they are ending their contract to deliver it with immediate effect.

“This is a purely commercial decision by Bird and means Bird’s scooters will be gone by Wednesday.”

Authorities in Redditch will now consider the future of the e-scooter trial, which currently has an end date of March 2024.

Cllr Dormer added: “People in Redditch have used them over 120,000 times to get to work and around the town so I think their exit will be a blow for a lot of people.

“But this does at least give us lots of room to have conversations around the trial, about what we might want, especially if the government extends it beyond the current end date of March 2024.

“Do we need more or different regulations imposed?

“These are not new questions, even in Redditch let alone the trials in the rest of the country and similar services across the world.

“It’s something our Overview and Scrutiny committee could soon be getting its teeth into.”

A spokesperson for the Redditch Labour Party said the group welcome the decision 'in response to serious safety concerns which have been raised by the public'.

"Our letter to the council highlighted the problems encountered by residents," added the spokesperson.

"Sustainable travel methods are important but we need to ensure that the systems are fit for purpose.

"We also need more government investment in public transport options as a long term strategy to reduce car journeys and emissions."