Technical issues meant I had to start a fresh blogpost. let's see if this ploy solves it.
Having heard nothing today I thought I'd be proactive and send Geraint Thomas a tweet.
Yeah it did. I notice Geraint isn't a regular user of X but you never know if you never try, now do you.
I've heard nothing from anybody so today I sent swpolice another tweet.
It would be nice to know, pending my appeal that my e-bike has not yet been crushed. Can you confirm this is the case, thanks. And seeing as the First Ministers email isn't working, I thought I forward the original to Plaid Cymru's email address post@plaid.cymru
Hi Rhun the email below came back undeliverable why have it listed on your Senedd webpage if it isn't working? It would be nice to know that the e-bike in question has not been crushed by South Wales Police pending the appeal.
It would be nice to know that you have contacted all Police forces in Wales halting any more seizures of e-bikes that use a throttle, rather than the thumb means of engaging the motor. Or that have used the cheat on the control panel so that they can ride at 21.63mph rather than the 15mph limit currently allowed for.
Yours David Gabriel
Sorry about the formatting copy pasting to here has issues. This time I got the automatic reply. Which means its been received.
And as Dan Thomas hasn't responded to the tweet I sent him an email also.
Dan.Thomas-MS@senedd.wales
Hi Dan
I sent you this tweet but thought I'd follow up with an email. I'm 68yrs old, I've had my e-bike impounded by South Wales Police, and I am appealing that confiscation, under The Equality Act 2010 and the right to a reasonable adjustment.
(copy of tweet inserted)
As of today, I've been unable to confirm that my e-bike has not been crushed pending the appeal.
Yours David Gabriel
9/6/2026
So far nobody has replied so I did a double check of Rhun's email and it's been updated to this rhun.apiorwerth@senedd.wales so I sent the following, forwarding the original email that didn't get through.
Hello Rhun
Let's hope this email works where the one below didn't. I hope you read the blog post, I hope you will be messaging all Chief Constables afterwards, and ask them to stop confiscating these E-Bikes. Much is made by government of their desire to get people out of cars, and using other types of green transport. It's only a shame that legislation is so anti this concept, when it comes to E-Bikes mph and their driving mechanism.
It's almost a month since I sent the email to you, on the 14/5/2026 I sent one to Plaid Cymru's main office email and no reply as of today. Is that good practice Rhun?
Yours in hope
David Gabriel.
And today 11/06/2026 I thought I tweet Dan direct with this via his RT of a tweet by @RUKWales
Oh and I asked google 'What is the required timescale for a Member of the Welsh Senedd to reply to email' and it said this:
Would they be getting a written warning if they were working in the private sector, for not meeting this target? We are at 20 working days and counting Dan.
What irks me the most about the impounding was I asked the cops 'Can I take it away get it back to a so called 'legal' bike, and bring it to the station to be double checked' Just like you used to have a timescale to bring your car documents to the station for checking. But nope the law was the law.
A wise person asked me ''How come cars aren't limited to 70mph, if they are concerned about the limits on e-bikes?'' Great question, but nope 140mph on the clock and everything is groovy.
I've been missing 'Excalibur' especially during the hot spell, I like to name my bikes, all for no good purpose. The cops talk about 'community policing' and 'good relations'. What would have been good community policing is not confiscating a pensioners two wheel disability ride, allowing them the chance to 'legitimize' it. And bring it back to a police station of their choosing to verify it, and not be such Grinches.
No they'd rather crush it, if indeed it has been? That beautiful machine. What a waste of a wonderful resource.
