Lime has been forced to pay a London business owner thousands of pounds after he invoiced it for dozens of its bikes that were left dumped on his land.
Russell Gray, director of the heritage construction firm Shiva Ltd, has received almost £10,000 from the e-bike rental company after a lengthy dispute which involved the courts, bailiffs and many emails.
Gray, 69, first complained to Lime in late 2024 when its customers continually parked bikes on his land and blocked critical access points to his premises, preventing the delivery of valuable building materials.
Russell Gray on his long-running dispute with Lime Bike
When Lime failed to respond to his initial complaints, Gray informed it he had implemented a “removal policy” at the Bermondsey Street site and began to take in and store any bike left on his private driveways.
This included several fees that were billed to Lime, including a storage charge of £10 a day per bike, a removal fee of £10 per bike and £50 for delivering some of the bikes to Lime’s depots.
Lime e-bikes blocking the pavement in London
ALAMY
With about 30 bikes taken in since the dispute began Gray continued to invoice the company for the unpaid fees and employed bailiffs to chase up any payment.
After being “fobbed off” by the company during his initial correspondence, Gray obtained a county court judgment in July last year which ordered Lime to pay the money. The firm did not offer a defence.
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With the daily storage fees continuing, Shiva continued to pester Lime with updated invoices and this month, the firm paid the money it owed. It has also told Gray and his employees it would strengthen its technology to stop bikes from being allowed to park on the office premises.
On Thursday a representative from Lime arrived in a van to pick up bikes that remained at Shiva’s premises.
“If I see somebody behaving in a way I think is unreasonable, selfish and remediable I will take whatever steps are available to remedy it,” said Gray. “I am one of a shrinking crowd of old school people who take matters of principle to their logical conclusion. Most people say, ‘Oh what can I do?’ The courts are your remedy.”
The bikes were taken away by a Lime representative
JAMIE LORRIMAN FOR THE TIMES
Forest, which has over 15,000 e-bikes across London, was also invoiced more than £1,000 after its bikes were also parked on Gray’s land, but they paid immediately.
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E-bike parking in London has been an issue for many councils and Islington council last month warned Lime and other companies they were on their “last warning” for failing to tackle the issue. Greenwich council said last year it was “cracking down” on Lime bikes and introduced new parking bays to avoid them being scattered around.
Councils normally charge the company a collection fee and storage fees for any misparked bikes reported by residents. Transport for London last year issued fines of more than £30,000 to firms as part of Operation Clearway, its enforcement policy to tackle dockless bikes badly parked or abandoned.
Southwark, where the general office of Gray’s business is based, has deals to allow both Lime and Forest bikes in its boundaries but does not offer dedicated parking bays. Gray said he contacted the council over his issue but they simply referred him to Lime.
Sir Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has compared bike rental schemes in the capital to the “Wild West” and has called for a more joined up approach to stop each borough implementing different rules.
Gray said his case could set a precedent for how other individuals and businesses dealt with illegal Lime parking. “To those who’ve got a similar problem there is a solution,” he said.
“If you’re dealing with Lime the notice is very simple, you write to them and say you’re continuing to park on our land, you haven’t prevented it like you said you would and we are now implementing a charging programme.
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“That will rattle Lime’s cage, if it started to become widespread I am sure it will be responded to with a bit more alacrity.”
He added that this may not be the end of his dispute if bikes continue to be parked on his land.
“If they carry on we will continue to take them. There is no reason we stop now because now I think we have got what is probably an effective tool. It wasn’t effective until they woke up and they took a lot of waking up.”
Lime said: “We were made aware of the concerns raised by the landowner and engaged with them to reach a resolution. Lime takes responsible parking extremely seriously, and we work closely with all London boroughs and private landowners to ensure any Lime vehicles are dealt with appropriately.”
