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Following the explosion of an e-bike battery at Rayners Lane station last month TfL has banned non-folding e-bikes from its rail and tube services

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E-bikes are flying off the shelves across Europe. Here in the UK, not so much. In Germany, over 2 million e-bikes sold last year – that’s over half of all bikes sold there and four times the number of electric cars sold. Meanwhile, our own e-bike sales hover at a modest 150,000 units a year. So, what’s Germany doing right that Britain is getting so wrong?

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There is, in our contemporary existence, a distinct horror in finding oneself stranded. It is the horror of the cancelled taxi, the buffering screen, the bank account inaccessible due to a forgotten password. We are no longer permitted to be self-sufficient; every minor inconvenience has been seamlessly rebranded as a service. The puncture, then, is a test. A kind of devotional practice. A small act of resistance against the prevailing notion that a human being should be unable to function without an app and a direct debit.

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Whether it’s a short jaunt across the Channel or a multi-country adventure, there are a few things to tick off before firing up your bike and rolling off the ferry or Eurotunnel.

Bureaucracy and border checks are the least exciting part of any motorbike tour, but getting caught out by the wrong paperwork or a forgotten sticker is a guaranteed way to dampen spirits. Here’s a no-nonsense guide to getting it right.

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There is something deeply absurd about the modern pedestrian crossing. Consider, if you will, the average urban dweller reduced to a supplicant at the altar of the automobile. One presses the beg-button, that infernal totem of subjugation, and then… one waits. And waits.

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The urban car is about as well-suited to the modern metropolis as a hippopotamus to a studio flat. Summer streets sag under its weight, our air thickens with its exhalations of nitrogen oxides and soot, and all the while, the creature demands more - more space to move, more space to rest. The sheer spatial absurdity of it: Each steel-and-glass sarcophagus idling for hours, occupying far more square footage than the bodies it transports. And yet, bizarrely, we persist.

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For many cyclists, finding a safe place to park is a minor inconvenience. But for users of non-standard cycles - such as tricycles, handcycles, and cargo bikes - poorly designed parking can make everyday journeys frustrating or even impossible. Wheels for Wellbeing, a leading disability cycling charity, has updated its guidance on how to make cycle parking work for as many people as possible.

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The explosion of an e-bike battery at Rayners Lane station last month was undeniably alarming. Flames and toxic fumes disrupted services on the Piccadilly and Metropolitan lines, and the London Fire Brigade had to intervene. In response, the RMT and Aslef unions calling for a total ban on e-bikes on the London Underground, threatening industrial action if Transport for London (TfL) does not comply.

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The true cost of car dependency is eye-watering. Research from Sweden puts the lifetime cost of car ownership at nearly £500,000 - of which a staggering 41% is shouldered by society. From air pollution to road deaths, congestion to climate emissions, the damage caused by our car-first culture extends far beyond individual drivers.

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Imagine walking down the street and spotting a driver scrolling through their phone, barely paying attention to the road. It’s a scene so common in Britain that it barely raises an eyebrow. Despite harsher penalties, using a mobile while driving remains endemic, putting cyclists and pedestrians at daily risk.

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