Halfords have agreed to transfer 11 Cycle Republic stores over to e-scooter specialists Pure Electric. Cycle Republic - which is owned by Halfords - will close 11 other stores permanently by 2021, but 85 staff members from the 11 stores being rescued by Pure Electric will have their future employment secured.
Electric scooters set to be made street legal in the UK
After initially announcing that Cycle Republic was not parts of its plans going forward along with the Boardman Performance Centre last month, Halfords say that the jobs of those being transferred over to Pure Electric was secured under TUPE regulations - this is short for the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006, which ensures former Cycle Republic staff will have the same employment terms and conditions with their new employer.
It's quite the expansion for Pure Electric - who also stock Brompton e-bikes - who currently just have one store in London's Belgravia. The stores they will be taking on are located in Birmingham, Bristol, Derby, Edinburgh, Gateshead, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Norwich, Nottingham, and Southampton. Halfords say they are "continuing to consult" with staff who will lose their jobs at the other stores and Cycle Republic's online operation, with CEO Graham Stapleton commenting:
“We’re pleased to have secured this agreement with Pure Electric. Our key priority throughout this process is to mitigate as many redundancies as possible. Not only does this agreement safeguard the employment of 85 of our Cycle Republic colleagues, but it is helping to secure the future of a number of retail sites across the country.
"We will continue to do everything that we can to redeploy other colleagues who are impacted by our proposal elsewhere within our business.”
Electric scooters are still illegal to ride on public roads and pavements in the UK, although there are very limited number of privately-owned paths that permit their use. Back in January we reported that e-scooters are set to be made street-legal in the UK, with a government consultation still discussing the change in the law and a timeline. By committing to take on 11 new stores, we're thinking that Pure Electric must believe there's a high chance e-scooters will be made legal by 2021; in fact, there's a petition to have them legalised on their website.
Do you think Britain's rules on e-scooters are due an overhaul? As always, let us know what you think in the comments...
