A petition calling for people using e-bikes and e-scooters to be banned from wearing balaclavas and other face coverings in Coventry city centre has attracted dozens of signatures, amid growing concern about dangerous riding, intimidation and the difficulty of identifying offenders on CCTV.
The resident-led ePetition asks Coventry City Council to extend its city centre Public Spaces Protection Order so that people using bikes and scooters, including e-bikes and e-scooters, cannot completely cover their faces within the ring road.
The proposed restriction would apply even when someone was not actually riding the bike or scooter.
Petitioners say the issue is not simply about people ignoring existing restrictions on riding through pedestrianised areas, but about the way some groups appear and the difficulty authorities face identifying people when offences are committed.
The petition states:
“It is not just the riding of bikes in the pedestrianised area that threatens public safety, but the sinister appearance of these individuals that is causing alarm and distress.”
It argues that CCTV becomes much less useful when someone’s face is completely hidden and says people who break the city centre restrictions can therefore be much harder to identify.
As of the latest council listing, 85 people had signed the petition, which remains open until 28 October 2026.
Petition says masked riders make city centre feel ‘unsafe and unwelcoming’
The petition is unusually blunt in describing the atmosphere some residents believe has developed in the city centre.
It says:
“The town centre has felt increasingly oppressive with the presence of individuals dressed in black from head toe, with their head and face completely hidden, using e-bikes and scooters.”
Petitioners argue that the problem continues even when riders dismount, saying there is no practical reason for someone walking alongside a bike or scooter to continue concealing their face.
They add:
“We value our open, transparent, trust based society and masked individuals riding or walking with bikes through the town centre undermine this and make the town centre feel unsafe and unwelcoming.”
The petition also links face coverings directly to enforcement, arguing that people who ride illegally through pedestrianised areas can remain anonymous even where CCTV footage exists.
It is important, however, to separate the petition from council policy.
Coventry City Council has not agreed to introduce a balaclava ban. This is currently a resident proposal submitted through the council’s ePetition system, and the wording represents the views of the petitioner rather than the council itself. The council explicitly states that views expressed in petitions do not necessarily reflect its own position.
E-bikes are already restricted in parts of Coventry city centre
Coventry already has rules specifically aimed at e-bikes and e-scooters.
Under the city centre Public Spaces Protection Order, people are prohibited from riding or using an e-bike or e-scooter inside the protected pedestrianised area unless they have a reasonable excuse or appropriate consent.
People are allowed to dismount and push their e-bike or e-scooter through the area, with exemptions for those who use them as mobility aids and cannot safely dismount.
Those restrictions were added to the city centre PSPO in November 2023 following concerns about riders using pedestrianised areas.
The council subsequently introduced education campaigns, signage and enforcement measures, while Scrutiny Committee members continued to monitor whether the rules were actually being followed.
The new petition argues that enforcement still has a weakness because people who cover their faces may be difficult to identify after the event.
Councillors had already discussed face coverings before the petition
Perhaps the most interesting part of the story is that the idea did not emerge from nowhere.
When Coventry’s Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee considered the new city centre PSPO in August, councillors specifically discussed e-bike and e-scooter riders wearing face coverings while cycling dangerously.
The meeting minutes show officials were already looking at several issues, including the collection of data on face coverings, the powers police have to stop and search people, and the practicalities of consulting on restrictions requiring people to remove face coverings while riding e-bikes and e-scooters.
Council officers were also:
“Liaising with colleagues in Nuneaton and Bedworth to learn from their experiences of removal of face coverings as part of a PSPO.”
That means the petition has landed at a time when the council has already been considering whether face coverings should form part of its response to dangerous e-bike and e-scooter use.
It does not mean a Coventry ban is imminent, but it does show the issue was already on the radar before residents formally petitioned for one.
How would a ban actually work?
That is likely to be one of the hardest questions if the proposal progresses.
The petition asks for a broad restriction covering people who are riding, pushing or otherwise using bikes and scooters inside the ring road. A workable policy would have to define what counted as a prohibited face covering and what exemptions were required.
There would be obvious questions around religious clothing, medical needs, cold weather, protective equipment and people using ordinary scarves or masks.
Enforcement would also need to be proportionate. A PSPO gives councils powers to restrict specific behaviour in public places where that behaviour has a persistent and unreasonable detrimental effect on local communities, but restrictions still need to be clearly defined and legally justified.
The council’s own August discussions acknowledged some of those practicalities, including the need for further consultation before any additional face-covering restriction could be introduced.
E-bikes have become a much bigger Coventry issue
The petition also reflects a wider frustration with the way some e-bikes and e-scooters are being used in busy pedestrian spaces.
For most people using them responsibly, e-bikes are simply another way of getting around the city. Delivery riders in particular depend on bikes for work, and many riders comply with the requirement to dismount in restricted areas.
The complaints tend to focus on a smaller number of riders travelling quickly through pedestrianised streets, ignoring requests to dismount or using modified bikes capable of much higher speeds than standard electrically assisted cycles.
Coventry’s response so far has centred on behaviour rather than appearance: stop riding in the restricted zone, dismount when required and use the vehicles safely.
The petition would move that approach a step further by making concealment of the face itself part of the restriction.
Residents now have until 28 October
The petition opened on 2 September and is scheduled to close on 28 October. Anyone who lives, works or studies in Coventry can support council ePetitions, subject to the council’s registration requirements.
Once it closes, what happens next will depend on the number of signatures and the council’s petition procedures.
You can sign it here.
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