STOP unsafe bike kit imports | Can YOU sign the petition?

Potentially dangerous motorcycle riding kit is being imported into the UK with no thought given to the implications for YOUR safety.

Let’s STOP IT NOW.

Sign the petition here now: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/702450 or at https://bit.ly/stopbadkit

Why we need to STOP unsafe riding kit

Besides a properly certified helmet, you’re free to wear what you want when riding a motorcycle or scooter in the UK, but the law states that any riding kit sold to you MUST be tested and certified to provide a minimum level of protection.

Legit sellers in the UK do that, but online marketplaces and social media marketing sellers are getting away with shipping potentially useless leathers, jackets and gloves, distributing what can amount to a dangerous waste of your money.

In far too many cases products are being sold that:

• Offer little to no abrasion protection

• Have fake impact protectors fitted

• Carry fraudulent safety markings

• Have false import documents

• Avoid the tax that supports our health service

• Fund organised crime

These products are commonly shipped one at a time ‘direct from the factory’ to mislead buyers who believe they’re getting a ‘bargain’ when in fact they’re wasting their money on something that could fall apart when it’s really needed.

Bennetts BikeSocial, The British Safety Industry Federation and Motorcycle News have all carried out many test purchases over the past few years, and after independent lab testing have PROVEN that the products aren’t safe. From potentially deadly airbags sold on Amazon shown here, to leathers and gloves as featured in the videos linked through this article:

A waste of money

These gloves cost twice as much as ones that work!

How to STOP riders being put at risk

Legit sellers in the UK make sure that what you buy will help keep you safe, but when individual items are being shipped direct from countries such as Pakistan and China they typically pass through customs without any checks, costing the UK taxpayer and, potentially, UK lives. The petition, launched by PPE expert Paul Varnsverry, calls on the British government to Implement a strategy to protect motorcyclists from imports of unsafe clothing by:

• Running checks on all individual packages from the countries known to be the main sources of these unsafe products

• Determining if those products satisfy the applicable standards; with conforming items released to the consumer and non-conforming ones destroyed.

UK Trading Standards teams are just as frustrated as we all are since they’re currently almost powerless to act, given the sellers generally operate from overseas, outside the jurisdiction of UK law. Imposing checks on entry represents a viable method of curtailing these sellers’ activities.

Fake back protector

Why these leathers shouldn’t be for sale

“The past three years of activity by Trading Standards across the country, at motorcycle shows and events, and in retailers’ stores, has almost entirely eradicated sales of non-conforming bike kit,” Paul told us. “The online market is a different matter, however, with the social media and most e-commerce platforms demonstrating no intention whatsoever of stopping sales of untested, non-certified motorcycle clothing, and refusing to remove posts that are reported to them. These platforms are not only placing riders at risk from unsafe products, they are in some cases also enabling organised crime gangs.

“The objective, should the petition gather sufficient signatures, is to compel the government to take steps that will protect the consumer by preventing unsafe products from reaching the end user, and make the platforms start taking their own responsibilities seriously.”

Sign the petition today here: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/702450 or at https://bit.ly/stopbadkit

Amazon’s best-selling gloves are dangerous

And they’re still for sale!