Thursday, 11 June 2026

An Open Letter To Rhun ap Iorwerth On E-Bikes (part 2)

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.

crazy dave
Hi Geraint I'm in the process of trying to change e-bike legislation here in Wales. I've made the suggestion that you and a couple of your biking buddies do a product test of them for the Welsh Assembly Gov. Would you be up for that? This is the blog link cardiffcountycouncil.blogspot.com/2026/05/an-ope

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. 
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 when that was done I tweeted this reply to 
@BBCWalesNews
 

It will soon be a month since I emailed you regarding E-Bike legislation in Wales, with no reply. But then hasn't either. Read all about it here cardiffcountycouncil.blogspot.com/2026/05/an-ope

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:

Within 17 working days

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, confiscated 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.

Thursday 25/6/2026

I've updated the part one of these blogs having learned that 'legal' e-bikes are peddle driven not thumb. Having done that I've tweeted Dan Thomas with this.


Followed by this to Rhun's Prif Weinidog X account.

Yep malfeasance in public office, it means 'the scam' the po-lice have running continues. Maybe I ought to put in a freedom of info request to South Wales Police, asking ''how many 250W e-bikes have been confiscated since 12/5/2026'' when I first appealed mine being taken. 

Then adding this blogpost to the tweet above to make Rhun aware of this one. ps it also went to those included in the previous tweet.


Friday 26/6/2026 I thought I'd get on Dan's case again with this.

They don't appear to care that South Wales Police are robbing people of their e-bikes, over trifles. They aren't 1000W e-bikes their 250W that carrying weight get's up to 21.63mph going down hill 6.13mph faster than they'd like you to. And oh look you don't have to peddle cos you've got the option of a throttle drive. And for this they are 'legally' robbing people. It's like something out of a comedy show, only it's not funny. 

Anyways my new bike is called Lazarus, and he'd like to be converted to a delimited 250W with throttle e-bike, if that's not to much trouble for anyone? Without the po-lice being able to steal him from me. The resurrection of sanity on this topic eh Rhun?

Update 6/7/2026

I've heard nothing back from anyone, Rhun failed the 17 working days deadline on Thursday the 2nd of July. So who do you complain to at the Senedd about such things?

I thought I'd add this comment about the peddles. There are only 2 reasons why I need them. The first is somewhere to put my feet, the second is. If the battery dies on me before I get home, I can peddle it back and not have to push it home. 

Today I thought I'd also look up e-bike racing, and First Minister all these dare devil kids we hear about in the fake news media. How about getting them involved in ebike racing in Wales. Cos I've met a few youths riding 2000W e-bikes since getting mine, they've probably had there's stolen by the cops too cos there's nowhere for them to ride. I wonder how many potential world champions we as a society are failing, through fear.

High powered e-bike speedway racing is a sport of the future, to name but one. Perhaps the Minister for sport can get on that case, for our fearless e-bike riders in Wales. Guess I'll have to email
Heledd Fychan  maybe she can start that ball rolling, maybe liaise with the po-lice throughout wales. Do you have persistent e-bike troublesome kids in your area, that might be fast tracked into e-bike sports? And provide the assistance necessary  to get them involved, if they wish to of course. 

And as Dan Thomas is so hard to get a hold of I tweeted this to Laura Anne Jones yesterday.

Well it is disgraceful, I mean even a reply that said. ''I have no interest in this matter'' would be better than silence. Meanwhile the cops are still probably stealing e-bikes on BS grounds eh Rhun? Seeing as screenshot is back working I thought I'd remind Rhun about his responsibilities to this welsh citizen.