YouTube star and TV Presenter Emily Hartridge has died in a tragic electric scooter accident. The 35-year-old social media star lost her life on Friday morning, when her e-scotter collided with a lorry at a roundabout in Battersea, south-west London. This is the first fatal collision involving an e-scooter to take place in Britain.
The devastating news was announced on Emily’s Instagram page, with a post reading, ‘“Hi everyone. This is a horrible thing to have to say over Instagram but we know many of you were expecting to see Emily today and this is the only way to contact you all at once. Emily was involved in an accident yesterday and passed away.We all loved her to bits and she will never be forgotten.She has touched so many lives it’s hard to imagine things without her. She was a very special person xxx.’
Tributes poured in for the presenter, who rose to fame seven years ago with her comical ’10 Reasons Why’ YouTube videos that quickly gained 3million views a month. Davina McCall commented on her post, ‘My heart goes out to Emily’s family and friends. Such a shock. Sending you love and prayers’, while Zoe Hardman wrote, ‘Absolutely devastating news 💔 finding it so hard to understand how this could happened. All my thoughts are with her family xx’.
It is currently illegal to ride an e-scooter on public roads and pavements in the UK, but many do so in cities across the US and Europe. Transport minister Michael Ellis is set to meet a number of firms on Monday to warn them that they must advise consumers of the law before they’re sold e-scooters, due to the increasing number of those riding them across the country. “Micromobility products are appearing in countries across the globe and are an exciting innovation for which we know there is demand,” he said. “However, safety must always be our top priority when considering their use on public highways in this country."
Our thoughts are with Emily's friends and family at this time.