Safety of Lithium-ion Batteries and e-bikes and scooters

Tichborne Parish Council is happy to support initiatives to reduce the number of household fires caused by Lithium-ion batteries.

Please see the correspondence below.

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Dear Local Council

I am writing to ask your Council to support our campaign to improve the safety of lithium batteries (used in e-bike and e-scooters) and their disposal.

Let me begin by introducing myself. I am the researcher for Lord (Don) Foster (hence my email address), who has been campaigning on this issue in the House of Lords. I am also the parliamentary advisor to Electrical Safety First, a UK Charity dedicated to reducing the deaths and injuries caused by electricity.

As you will probably know lithium battery fires are on the increase – there have been over 1000 in the past few years, nearly 200 injuries and a dozen fatalities. Homes have been destroyed. The cost to the UK runs into £billions. You will doubtless know of examples in your area. I attach a spreadsheet of some recent fires – as you will see there have been some in your area.

Lord Foster and Electrical Safety First are promoting a Parliamentary Bill to ensure greater safety in the use and disposal of lithium batteries and are aiming to get it into law as soon as possible.

We have the support of many national organisations, as the attached logos show – including the National Fire Chiefs Council, the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and the Royal Society for Public Health. In addition 2 coroners have called for the law to be tightened to ensure greater safety.

We are now contacting more locally based organisations, and it would be great if your Council was able to support this campaign. It would be a great boost.

Please do get in touch if you require any further information.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Yours sincerely,

Ron Bailey

ron.bailey@parliament.uk