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Police have dropped all charges against the rider of a legal e-bike which was destroyed by police, after they wrongly believed it was an illegal electric motorbike.
West Midlands Police had stopped Matin Zandi in Birmingham on 24 April and issued a fixed penalty notice for riding without insurance.
The £6,000 cargo bike, which Zandi had rented as part of a scheme funded by the city council, was caught up in a police sting targeting food delivery riders on illegal e-bikes.
In an email to the bike shop who rented the bike, seen by the BBC, West Midlands Police agreed to compensate the shop and confirmed they would stop using the flawed roadside test which misidentified Zandi's bike.
In the email to Birmingham Bike Foundry, the force said: "Whilst there was no malice in the officer's actions and they believed they were acting lawfully, the method to test the bike was not an accurate measurement of the bike's capability.
"As discussed, West Midlands Police do acknowledge that the testing used to seize your bike was not accurate and therefore the bike should not have been seized."
It added that an inspector had confirmed the flawed testing process would desist "immediately" and an investigation would commence into alternative testing along with appropriate training for officers.
They added: "The traffic ticket has been cancelled and the driver will be notified of this. I apologise again for any distress or inconvenience this has caused."
Allama Munir, from Birmingham Bike Foundry, told the BBC: "I'd say that I feel relieved that there won't be further unnecessary escalation, and I'm glad that West Midlands Police have dropped charges against the rider, accepted that they made an error, and acknowledged that their tests are flawed.
But he added that it was "frustrating" the incident even occurred in the first place, as it had cost a lot of staff time and "caused a great deal of stress to the rider".
"I hope that West Midlands Police make good on their commitment to work with recognised organisations and trade bodies such as the Bicycle Association, the Association of Cycle Traders, and Cycling UK, and I hope that this serves as a learning experience and hopefully will not reoccur."
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