Beryl e-bike flytipped in Penzance stream for days

An electric bike has been flytipped into a stream to the dismay of a local resident in the latest incident of its kind in Cornwall. Dog walker Howard Phillips spotted the Beryl bike dumped in the Chyandour Brook at Heamoor near Penzance earlier this week.

He said he reported the vandalism but was annoyed to see that despite notifying sports goods company Smidsy Ltd, which runs the Beryl Bikes e-bike rental scheme in towns across Cornwall, on Sunday (April 28), complete with a location, time and photograph of the vandalised bike, the bike was still there days later.

Howard said that when the e-bike was first spotted the front light was still on which means it must have been freshly rented out via the Beryl app. He said: "The longer the bike was in the water the more it would have deteriorated.

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"On Sunday my partner phoned the company and explained where it was. This was followed by an email with a photo of the bike in the stream, a photo of the beginning of the path from the road to the stream and a description of the area with the postcode. We returned on Monday and the bike had not been removed.

"I do not know how to stop people throwing these bikes into the stream. Someone must have hired it and used their app to do this as it was a long way from the nearest drop off point. I have recently looked on their website and see that the person who did this will have a £80 fee for not returning it to the drop off point.

"What I find distressing is that I took a lot of trouble to notify the company of this and the bike had not been retrieved in a reasonable time, i.e. one working day. This suggests Beryl Bikes have no respect for their bikes, the environment or their reputation."

The e-bike scheme is operated by Beryl on behalf of Cornwall Council and is part of a £2.8m investment from the Good Growth programme, which in managed by Cornwall Council and funded by the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund to promote cycling and healthy living in Cornwall.

Since first launching in Falmouth in September 2022, the e-bike share scheme has expanded to serve the Cornish communities of Penzance, Penryn, Truro, Newquay and St Austell. In that time, the e-bikes have clocked up over 148,000 rides covering nearly 382,000km - more than nine journeys around the Earth. The scheme was rolled out to Saltash in March when 44 e-bikes were put out throughout the town.

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The incident reported by Howard is the not the first to happen. In October last year, another e-bike was found submerged in the algae-green leat that runs below Victoria Gardens in Truro. In January, Smidsy Ltd said that in its first year of operation in Cornwall there were 64 reports of vandalism, with 289 vehicles tagged as “missing” and 262 recovered.

A spokeswoman for Penzance Council said: "We are not connected to Beryl Bikes and it’s not our responsibility to remove ones that have been abandoned in inappropriate places. In terms of general fly-tipping, if it has taken place on Penzance Council owned or managed land we are responsible for removing it. We ask that people report any issues directly to us at 01736 363405 or info@penzance-tc.gov.uk so that we can take immediate action, rather than posting on Facebook groups as we don’t always see these posts if they don’t tag us, which means it will take longer to resolve."

A spokesperson for Beryl Bikes said that its on-street teams have been alerted to the incident at Heamoor and once the e-bike is retrieved it will go back to the workshop for an assessment and repairs before being put back on the street.

They added: “It’s always disappointing to see the results of vandalism or antisocial behaviour and we would appeal to anyone misusing the e-bikes to please respect them and ensure they are available for other people to use. We will work with Devon and Cornwall Police to investigate any incidents of theft or criminal damage and retain the option to suspend and ban/remove accounts for improper use of the scheme."

People can report incidents of vandalism or antisocial behaviour involving the e-bikes by phone on 0203 0035044 between 7am and 9pm Mon-Sun, by email at support@beryl.cc or through the Beryl app. For emergencies, contact 999.