A London council is offering asylum seekers 50 per cent discounts on renting e-scooters and e-bikes.
Wandsworth council’s Labour leader Simon Hogg has described the new deal with private firms Lime, Forest and Voi as ‘win-win’.
The south-west London local authority has published new details about what it calls an ‘Access For All’ agreement aimed at making the cycles ‘fair, safe and affordable’.
Eligible residents are described as people in receipt of benefits, children in receipt of free school meals (all ages), asylum seekers/refugees, and children who are ‘looked after’ or care leavers. MailOnline has asked all involved how the discounts are being financed.
This latest scheme comes amid recent revelations about how asylum seekers are using taxpayer handouts to fund their gambling habits – while Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has highlighted fast food deliveries outside asylum hotels.
Pre-paid cards given out to pay for basics including food and clothing are being used in gambling venues such as bookmakers, amusement arcades and even casinos, Home Office data shows.
In the last year, up to 6,537 asylum seekers have used the government-issued cards at least once for gambling.
And there have been fears raised that some asylum seekers are using hire bikes to work illegally as delivery riders – forcing the Home Office to agree to share the location of asylum hotels with food delivery firms.
Wandsworth Council’s Simon Hogg and Jenny Yates are with cycles in the borough
Wandsworth Council leader Simon Hogg has described the new e-bike deal as ‘win-win’
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp shared this photo of a rider outside an asylum hotel
In the new announcement about its e-bike scheme, Wandsworth Council declared it was ‘rolling ahead with its active travel ambitions by working with Lime, Forest and Voi to support e-bikes and e-scooters as a sustainable mode of travel’.
In the 12 months from May 2024 to May 2025, there were 6.8million trips made by rented e-bike in Wandsworth.
The authority said: ‘We’re backing that demand by making journeys safer and more accessible for everyone.
Jenny Yates, Cabinet Member for Transport, said: ‘E-bikes are here to stay as a key part of Wandsworth’s transport network.
‘We are committed to sustainable travel but it must be done responsibly, so we have worked with Lime, Forest and Voi to make sure e-bikes and scooters work for Wandsworth.’
And council leader Mr Hogg, whose party won control of Wandsworth from the Conservatives in 2022, said: ‘This deal is a win-win.
‘It’s about opening up affordable, sustainable travel that helps our residents to access work and entertainment opportunities across the borough.
‘We’re proud that Lime, Forest and Voi have agreed to join Access for All and to operate respectfully and safely.
Wandsworth Council declared it was ‘rolling ahead with its active travel ambitions by working with Lime, Forest and Voi to support e-bikes and e-scooters as a sustainable mode of travel’
The new agreement has been announced in Wandsworth, a borough just south of the Thames
‘We are making sure that no one is priced out of healthy and sustainable travel.’
The scheme also offers discounts for eligible residents towards ‘key services from gym sessions to swimming lessons, wedding ceremonies to event tickets’.
The latest council announcement on its e-bike scheme also tells of having installed 170 dedicated on-street parking bays for e-bikes and scooters while also creating ‘strict no-parking zones in town centres’.
Wandsworth council added: ‘We’re planning further parking bays. The Lime and Voi e-scooters follow strict safety standards, including speed caps, always-on lights and licence checks for e-scooter riders.’
MailOnline has contacted Wandsworth council, Lime, Forest and Voi for further comment.
Meanwhile, a ring of steel is being set up around a luxury four-star hotel that been converted to house migrants, following sweeping protests this week.
Large barriers were installed outside The Britannia International Hotel in London’s Canary Wharf this morning.
It comes after a second night of fiery scenes following a major rally by anti-migrant activists outside the swanky city centre venue – where rooms can go for up to £425 a night.
Large barriers have been set up around the four-star Britannia Hotel in Canary Wharf
A police cordon and fencing is placed outside the Britannia International Hotel
Security guards are seen carrying a large package behind the cordon and into the hotel
It comes after the venue was turned into a migrant hotel, sparking fierce protests last night
Guards kitted out in black uniforms and wearing face masks were seen manning the barriers this morning, as security was tightened – and more than a dozen officers from the Metropolitan Police gathered outside the building.
The heightened protective measures come amid fresh fears of further protests exploding today and into the weekend.
In Epping, Essex, the community is once against braced for fresh demonstrations this week following violent clashes by ‘thugs’ outside The Bell Hotel, which is also housing illegal asylum seekers.
The mayhem erupted earlier this month after one of the hotel’s Ethiopian residents was charged with sexually assaulting schoolgirls in the leafy Essex town.
Since then, protests have spread to other parts of the country, with more than 150 gathering outside The Park Hotel, in Diss, Norfolk, on Monday after the Home Office announced plans to change it from housing asylum-seeker families to single men.
The boss of the organisation representing rank-and-file police officers has chillingly warned the disorder in Epping’s was the ‘signal flare’ which could spark an outbreak of violent protests.
Police could now be dragged away from neighbourhood duties to keep the peace at rallies outside migrant hotels, said Tiff Lynch, head of the Police Federation.
Ms Lynch said officers were being ‘pulled in every direction’ and commanders were ‘forced to choose between keeping the peace at home or plugging national gaps’.
The hotel in Canary Wharf has been cordoned off but workers were seen bringing beds and mattresses inside
Guards were seen outside the hotel in Canary Wharf on Thursday morning
The hotel has been taken over by the Home Office to house asylum seekers
Dozens of police officers were deployed to the Britannia International Hotel in Canary Wharf earlier this week as protests erupted
Protesters gathered outside, some wearing masks and others draped in St George’s flags
She said if violent protests spread throughout the summer, it would be ‘dangerous to assume’ that police forces would be able to ‘hold the line indefinitely’
She wrote in the Telegraph: ‘It would be comical if it weren’t so serious – and so familiar.
‘Local commanders are once again being forced to choose between keeping the peace at home or plugging national gaps.’
She described Epping as ‘not just a troubling one-off’, adding: ‘It was a signal flare.
‘A reminder of how little it takes for tensions to erupt and how ill-prepared we remain to deal with it.’
The hotel in Canary Wharf was the latest to be converted into asylum accommodation by the Home Office, as Britain braces itself for a potential surge in illegal migrants crossing the Channel in the summer.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been warned the nation could face a second ‘summer of riots’ if Labour fails to get a grip on such hotels being used amid rising public anger.
The decision for the four-star city building to house asylum seekers has already been branded an ‘insult’, with some residents and local business owners saying they fear for their safety.
Anti-migrant activists claim the new wall outside the lavish glass-fronted building has been built to keep them away from the hotel entrance after latest rallies, which saw them clashing with police.
Elsewhere, a Norfolk migrant hotel hit by protests has threatened to close unless the Home Office pushes ahead with plans to replace families it is currently housing with single men.
About 150 people gathered outside the Park Hotel in Diss on Monday night for a ‘peaceful’ demonstration after the Home Office announced the proposed change.
But footage posted on social media, including by supporters of far right activist Tommy Robinson, showed clashes between pro and anti-migrant groups.
The owners of the Park Hotel have now issued a statement insisting they will not agree to the request to move away from only housing families.
‘We would also like to confirm and reassure the community of Diss that we have advised the Home Office and other stakeholders that, should this situation change, and we are formally notified that the hotel will no longer operate as a family-only establishment, we will have no alternative but to close,’ it read.
‘There are currently vulnerable families and children staying at the hotel – many of whom are feeling frightened and uncertain about recent events at the hotel and their futures. We ask for understanding and sensitivity during this time.’
