BIKE hire firms have been urged to take more responsibility after accusations that bikes strewn across the city were becoming a hazard for pedestrians, especially the visually-impaired.

But the trio of dockless bike operators in Oxford – Ofo, Pony Bikes and Mobike – have insisted people needed to be 'educated' on how to park the bikes correctly.

The number of dockless bikes in the city has now risen to 1,300 and several hundred more could follow before the summer.

Poorly-parked cycles obstructing pavements, roads and paths outside buildings have been reported across the city.

Father-of-four Mohammed Khan became concerned about abandoned bikes when out walking with his son Adam Solan, who is visually impaired.

The 15-year-old Oxford Spires Academy pupil, who plays for the Berkshire Stags Visually Impaired Cricket Club, was worried he might trip over one and fall into the road.

Oxford Mail:

His dad, 46, has taken up the fight with local authorities and the Oxfordshire Association for the Blind, urging someone to take responsibility.

The Sandhills resident said: "My son said he was worried about them first, then I started to keep an eye out for them and I noticed parents with prams and young children having to walk around them as well.

"They are being left in the middle of pavements, around sharp corners and outside buildings – I came across so many that were dangerous.

"They are a risk and could potentially cause a trip or a fall.

"The advice is to ring the bike companies and report the badly parked ones – but people don't have time to keep doing that and shouldn't be responsible for it.

Mr Khan said the concept itself was a good one and worked well in London where bike firms had built their own docking stations and urged them to do the same in Oxford.

Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds said she has taken up the issue with transport minister Jesse Norman.

Oxford Mail:

She said: "Oxford is a city at the high water mark for dockless bike schemes.

"The schemes offer great potential for getting more people onto bikes, but it's important that the schemes are developed in a planned way.

"I know that Oxford City Council have been trying to ensure that Oxford gets all the benefits from bike sharing without potential negative aspects- which has included pushing firms to pick up damaged bikes."

While there is no legislation regarding dockless bikes, all firms operating in Oxford have signed up to a voluntary code of conduct.

The code states that operators must ensure bikes are not left in area where they would be 'an obstacle or nuisance to pedestrians, wheelchair users or the general public'.

Oxford Mail:

This includes making it clear to users where and where not to park the bikes and dealing with reports quickly.

Oxfordshire Association for the Blind director Colin Cure said the charity was concerned and called for measures to stop bikes being left in 'dangerous places'.

He said: "It's only fairly recently that we have become aware of it but ironically we have had to move them from outside our building on at least two occasions as we have a number of visually-impaired people working there.

"We are concerned: it particularly affects visually-impaired people as many will survey a route and familiarise themselves with the lampposts and bins for example along the way.

"If something else is in the way, that could cause problems."

However the city’s three operators defended the concept and said reaction to their arrival had been overwhelmingly positive.

Ofo operations manager for Oxford Stuart McCarroll said: "We've been operating successfully in Oxford for many months and local reaction to the scheme has been hugely positive.

"Our bikes have GPS trackers and we have a large team of marshals on the ground to deal with any issues quickly.

"When bikes are badly parked or left outside our 'geofence' we contact the last rider to educate them on how the scheme works."

Pony Bikes, after a picture was posted online of one of its bikes hanging from railings in Headington Hill, admitted that particular bit of parking was 'really bad'.

The company went on: "We have a few cases like that but overall it is actually only just a few and does not happen often – most people are actually awesome."

It added: "Regarding fines, we do investigate every time and report to Thames Valley Police when bad parking is clearly obstructing or has incurred damage."

The police reiterated that people should report abandoned bikes to the relevant bike company.

General manager of Mobike UK North, Darryl Evans, said: "Mobike takes this issue very seriously.

"In addition to the work we’re doing at city and country level to educate people on bike sharing and how to park our bikes so they don’t disrupt anyone or anything, we have a contact line where residents of Oxford can report misplaced bikes.

"Our 24 hour operations team responds to these reports and moves the mis-parked bikes."

Oxfordshire Association for the Blind is also in today's paper searching for a new name.