After boy dies, UK coroner warns against storing e-bikes at home

A UK coroner has called for greater public awareness of the “life-threatening” risks of storing electronic bikes and scooters in the home after an eight-year-old boy died following a house fire caused by an e-bike, reported German Press Agency (dpa).

Luke Albiston O’Donnell died in hospital from hypoxia - low levels of oxygen in the body - and carbon monoxide poisoning after an e-bike on charge in the front room of his house in Merseyside caught fire in the early hours of Aug 4, an inquest concluded.

The blaze was sparked by the ignition of the bike’s lithium battery. Fires involving these batteries, which are also used for e-scooters, can spread rapidly and produce a toxic vapour.

E-bike fires have been reported in many other countries and some consumer advocates have expressed concern about their storage safety.

Thirteen people in the United Kingdom died from fires involving e-bikes and e-scooters in 2022 and 2023, according to figures published in August by the Office of Product Safety and Standards (OPSS).

The area coroner for Liverpool and the Wirral, Anita Bhardwaj, has sent a preventing future deaths (PFD) report to the OPSS, the National Fire Chiefs Council and Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service highlighting concerns that the public need to be better informed about the dangers of storing e-bikes and e-scooters at home.

It is the fourth PFD report to be issued to the OPSS over e-bike fires since August last year.

Bhardwaj said: “The general public does not appreciate the life-threatening risks involved with having lithium-ion batteries, from electronic bikes in this case, stored in domestic properties.

“There appears to be a lack of communication/media coverage about the dangers involved with storing appliances such as electronic bikes/scooters in domestic properties.

“There have already been three deaths associated with lithium batteries in the home in Merseyside and we have been informed there were a number of similar fatalities across England.”

The coroner believes there is a risk that more deaths could occur unless action is taken.

- Bernama

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