Little Riziah Moazzeny made her first trip in London. The young girl had experienced more bad luck than most in her lifetime. Her parents set out to create happy memories of the trip.
Defying doctor’s predictions that she would die before birth, ‘miracle baby’ Riziah was born with complex heart defects and survived a heart operation just days later.
At five years of age, she is dependent on a pacemaker and must use a wheelchair.
Farzam Moazzeny and Naomi Moazzeny were determined that their trip to the capital would be memorable.
Travelling by train from their home in Chorley, Lancashire, in August, they visited Buckingham Palace before going to nearby St James’s Park to feed the ducks.
Riziah, clutching nuts for squirrel feeding when she was struck head-on on the head by an individual speeding past her on his electric scooter.
Tragedy: Emily Hartridge was killed in an accident that saw her being thrown from an e-scooter.
‘She was flipped into the air and fell, landing on different parts of her body including her arms and hips,’ said Mrs Moazzeny a few days later. ‘We feared she could have broken her arm, and she began going blue.’
Riziah was rushed to the hospital by an ambulance. She received treatment for her bruises and cuts on her legs, arms and hips as well as marks on her head.
‘It is a miracle my daughter is here,’ says Mrs Moazzeny, who now wants e-scooters to be made illegal in parks.
Ms Hartridge, who was traveling to a fertility center when the tragic accident occurred, was about to get on her way.
After the presenter’s e-scooter collided with an HGV last year in Battersea (south west London), the victim was tragically killed.
Her story is just one of many tales that highlight the increasing danger created by the e-scooters proliferating on the streets of British towns and cities — they now number more than a million.
Since July 2020 at least six riders were killed in an accident involving them, while nearly 200 others sustained serious injuries.
Emily Hartridge was killed in an accident involving an electric scooter in Britain in 2019 and became the first to do so.
She was 35 years old and was riding along Battersea Road, South London. Her tyre was too low, and she lost control, and she was then thrown underneath a tractor. Her multiple injuries led to her immediate death.
Riziah Mogazzeny sustained injuries when she was hit by a scooter while out on a day.
The Mail just revealed last week that the Mail has seen an increase in ambulance calls to electric scooter accidents by 54% in just 2 years.
Based on figures obtained by Mail through Freedom of Information, Incidents rose to 75 from 2019 and to 480 within the first 8 months of 2021.
This included pedestrians being mowed down on the streets and e-scooter drivers colliding with cars.
The vast majority of injuries have been head traumas to riders, since many of them don’t wear helmets.
It is illegal to use an e-scooter on a public road or pavement in the UK, unless it’s as part of official government-approved and council-run schemes.
The bikes were introduced in July 2020. They cover over 40 locations across the country. Riders usually pay per minute to rent them.
Last week, however, it was revealed that electric scooters had inflicted injuries on more than 130 pedestrians over the last year.
These startling numbers call for an immediate halt to these trials.
Frances Bowler, mother-of-two knows too well the dangers of speeding cars.
The 59-year-old suffered an agonising injury in a hit-and-run accident earlier this year when a passing e-scooter struck her, ripping open her ankle and slicing through her Achilles’ tendon.
The retired chartered accountant and her husband, Tony, 61, a retired water engineer, were in London to meet up with daughters Rebecca, 31, and Hannah, 26, to celebrate the elder’s birthday on March 29.
After a family picnic, they were strolling on Oxford Street with Mrs Bowler when she was hit from behind by an e-scooter.
‘The scooter had a metal plate in the front of it which smashed into my leg, leaving a four-inch cut,’ she says.
‘Unfortunately, none of us realised at the time how serious it was — even though there was an awful lot of blood. He looked about twenty years old and was speeding along. He never even checked to see how I was.’
Four days after the accident, Mrs Bowler still couldn’t walk properly, and six weeks after that an MRI scan confirmed that her Achilles’ tendon had been severed, with no muscles connecting her ankle to her calf.
Even worse, the wound developed an infection while she was waiting for treatment. She had to receive antibiotics.
After surgery, the injured tendon was repaired and she now has to spend months with a cast.
Last night — eight months on from the accident — she said she is still receiving physiotherapy.
Frances Bowler (pictured) was struck by a hit-and-run rider and has since had surgery to repair the severed tendon
She has not been able find the rider on the e scooter that struck her. Mrs Bowler says: ‘These scooters need a strict top speed. Police should be making sure riders don’t ride on the pavement, and there needs to be some sort of identity check [so that riders can be traced in case of an accident] — because at the moment they have zero accountability.’
Many scooters can be found littering streets and pavements across the country. They are a nuisance and posing a danger to residents.
Philip Jones, 75 years old, was killed by an abandoned scooter while he was riding his mobility scooter in Northampton. He found that his path had been blocked last October after he came across one.
The pensioner tried to lift the car off the asphalt but was unable to get out of his wheelchair to do so. But he suffered a catastrophic fall — and died in hospital 12 days later.
Dennis, Dennis’ grieving brother, campaigned since to ban escooters and wrote to Prime Minister asking for an end to all trials.
Mary, a Liverpool pensioner who cannot give her full name but is afraid to speak out, said last night that the increase in scooter use had made her, and others, too afraid to venture onto the streets.
‘I’m disabled with severe arthritis, I have a mobility impairment and need to use crutches,’ said the 73-year-old.
‘For disabled and elderly people, these e-scooters are absolutely terrifying. They rush out of side streets, and I don’t see them until they whizz past. They’ve nearly knocked me over several times. I’m in constant fear.’
Mary is a member of the National Pensioners Convention, which has published a bulletin ‘practically begging the Government not to legalise these e-scooters because of the effect they having on pensioners’, says Mary.
Nicky MacGregor, her family and children were transformed in September when Stewart MacGregor took his e-scooter out to verify that the local garage still had fuel for the shortage.
The 53-year-old from Stevenage, Herts, had a crash — involving no other vehicles — and he died in hospital two days later from catastrophic head injuries.
‘I am totally devastated that I won’t ever see him again,’ wife Nicky said at the time.
And cobbler Tony Mumford was ‘over the moon’ when his partner, Cheryl Evans bought him a scooter as a gift earlier this year.
The 53-year old died tragically in the hospital a week after he fell from the car near his shop.
Describing the loss of her partner, Ms Evans said: ‘I just wish I had him longer so that we could have grown old together.’
Six people died and nearly 200 were seriously hurt in crashes involving riders since July 2020.
Barrie Howes was a charity campaigner who lost control last June as he traveled down Brompton hill, an extremely steep road in Chatham.
After he flew, and despite being wearing a helmet in the cockpit, he sustained traumatic brain injuries.
Mr Howes — a prolific fundraiser for the British Heart Foundation — was found by a passer-by and airlifted to hospital in London, where his condition deteriorated and he died nine days later.
‘My rock and wonderful husband of 32 years’, his widow Claire wrote in tribute to him. ‘Still helping people by generously donating your liver [and] kidneys. Will always love and miss you.’ E-scooters in government-backed trials must not exceed speeds of 15.5mph or weigh more than 55kg. The user must not be under 16 and have a minimum of a provisional driver’s license.
But that has not stopped thousands of people buying them and illegally riding them on British roads — and, far too often, on pavements.
The retail industry has seen a surge in sales, with over a million vehicles sold. However, many don’t make clear that these vehicles can only be used on private property.
The scooters have a speed limit of 15.5 mph but can be easily modified to reach speeds up to 70 mph. This scooter is criticized for its disregard of safety precautions. E-scooter drivers who break the law face a fine of £300 and six points on their current or future driver’s licence — but this does not appear to have proved much of a deterrent.
Furthermore, these trendy vehicles have been accused of helping fuel two-wheeled crime waves.
The past twelve months have seen numerous cases of hit and runs, drink driving, drive-by shootings, drugs deliveries, theft, and riders who went the wrong direction down the motorway.
One car was driven off the motorway bridge and into traffic below. A hit-and-run in London resulted in the injury of a Metropolitan Police officer in August. He sustained a fractured leg and concussion.
A Department for Transport spokesman has insisted: ‘Ministers recently wrote to the largest retailers reminding them of their legal duty to provide clear information outlining where electric scooters are and are not permitted to be used.’
Campaigners argue that it is sufficient.
‘These e-scooter trials are utter carnage. How many more people’s lives have to be lost or changed for ever before the Government acts on this issue?’ says Sarah Gayton of the National Federation of the Blind of the UK.
‘The trials have had long enough to attempt to resolve the issues of injuries, invasion of pedestrian spaces and trip hazards, yet they have not done so.
‘They need to be shut down immediately. The Government is not only asleep on this issue — they have gone into hibernation.’
Meanwhile, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent — which has seen at least two incidents involving charging e-scooters bursting into flames — has called for a total ban. (The scooters charge by plugging into the mains electric.
‘Until the sale of private e-scooters is banned altogether, and robust action taken to remove them from our streets, the number of collisions and injuries will grow,’ says Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott.
Association of British Insurers (ABI), last week issued an urgent warning for anyone considering purchasing an e-scooter this Christmas. They highlighted that these scooters are illegal and pose a risk of injury to the head.
‘E-scooters are dangerous to their owners, other road users and pedestrians’, says Laura Hughes, ABI’s general insurance manager.
‘It is essential the Government develops robust regulations around their construction and use.’
Ministers have waited to decide if private-owned electric scooters should be allowed on the roads, at least until next summer.
Families of the injured and the deceased would argue that each day they are still on the road is too much.