'This won't get councillors onside': Auckland Council bombarded by Lime emails

An Auckland councillor has warned Lime's fight to get its electric scooters back on city streets could backfire, after being bombarded with hundreds of emails sent using the company's app.

Auckland Council put the brakes on the e-scooter fleet on Friday, giving the company 24 hours to "disable the fleet" and remove the scooters from the city's streets while safety issues were resolved.

That move followed many reports of the scooters suddenly locking up and throwing riders off.

Hey @limebike I’m a councillor who has been backing you & I use Lime too.

I’ve got 1600 emails from your app so far.

I can’t even reply to supporters as it’s just one email address?

This won’t get other councillors onside.

Suspension is due to your defect not Lime opposition.

— Richard Hills (@richardhills777) February 23, 2019

Users who visited the Lime app yesterday were alerted to a plea for public support encouraging people to send an automatic email to Auckland Council with the subject line "I support Lime in Auckland".

"You might have been aware that Lime is currently only on a trial in Auckland. We want to be around for the long run helping you get from A to B in a simple, affordable and fun way. We'd appreciate if you could take a moment to share your support for Lime with Auckland's mayor and councillors," the message reads.

Councillor Richard Hills has backed the company and uses its scooters.

But he tweeted that he'd received 1600 emails from its app and couldn't reply to any of them because they came from a single email address.

"This won't get other councillors onside," he said.

"Suspension is due to your defect not Lime opposition."

Hills said a petition, email or letter with the names of all supporters "would've been awesome".

"But instead I will (but for most councillors they will get their support staff to sort out the email overload). For what gain?"

Lime has said it will implement a firmware upgrade to address the wheel-locking issue.

The company identified 115 reported irregular braking incidents that may have been caused by the locking issue, 30 resulting in injury.

Council bosses met representatives from Lime on Friday to discuss safety concerns before announcing the suspension.

The council could lift its suspension as early as tomorrow, if satisfied by a safety report.