E-scooter app vanishes off store amid ongoing ‘issue’

The mystery of what happened to a town’s e-scooter hire scheme has deepened after the company’s app disappeared from online stores with “no clear time when it will be fixed”.

E-scooters in Slough, Berkshire, run by Zipp Mobility were taken off the road in June, just a month after a borough council-backed trial hire scheme began, due to an unforeseen issue.

The company has remained tight-lipped about what the issue was.

Charlie Wilson, UK country manager for Zipp Mobility, said: “The issue affecting our scooters in Slough is still ongoing but we are working on a solution that will resume an e-scooter service in the area as quickly as possible.”

The Zipp e-scooter hire scheme was launched in Slough for a trial run on May 28, but the scooters have been unavailable to hire since at least 24 June.

The issues also put similar e-scooter hire schemes out of action in Buckinghamshire and Somerset, with a statement from Somerset Council in July blaming “an unexpected supplier issue”.

Meanwhile, Pembrokeshire Council ran a Zipp e-bike hire scheme in Haverfordwest, Fishguard, Goodwick and Tenby – but the link to the app needed to hire the e-bikes stopped working.

Pembrokeshire Council said e-bikes were still available to hire for customers who already had the app.

Wilson said the issues affecting e-scooters and e-bikes were “related but not the same”, and that the company hoped to bring the scooters back “as quickly as possible”.

Pembrokeshire Council has been contacted for further comment.