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France to ban electric scooters from pavements after rise in accidents

Around 15,000 rental scooters have flooded Paris since introduction last year with the number expected to rise to 40,000 by the end of this year.

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France is set to ban electric scooters from pavements following a rise in accidents and growing complaints over the number of the devices littering the streets, reports The Independent.

An estimated 15,000 scooters operated by several companies have flooded Paris since their introduction last year, with the number expected to rise to 40,000 by the end of the year.

 In an interview for Le Parisien, France’s transport minster Elisabeth Borne said that anyone riding an electric scooter on the pavement would be fined €135 (£116) from September.

Instead, they will have to use the street or dedicated cycling paths "so pedestrians are no longer squeezed against walls", Ms Borne said.

She added the introduction of the electric scooters in France had “happened very fast and in a bit of an anarchic way”.

Read more of this report from The Independent.