“It’s just like riding a bike,” my guide assures me as I confess I’m nervous about riding an e-scooter. Fastening my helmet, I remind myself that I can both cycle and drive, but on this cool summer’s day, the thought is making me sweat. Apparently it’s common in novice riders. “Many are nervous or scared at first, but 99% get it very quickly,” says tour guide Alex Derham, 28. “A lot of people who book our tours have seen e-scooters around and wanted to try them. It’s a good way to learn to use them in a fun and safe environment.” He and Charles Purdue-Pulido started ScooTours in 2018 offering push scooter, and later e-bike, tours of London. This week, they launched the capital’s first electric scooter tours, having already launched in Milton Keynes and Cambridge, the first such tours in the UK, in April. The response has been overwhelmingly positive so far, with customers by and large being converted to confident riders. “In Cambridge, I often see people who did my morning tour riding around in the evening,” Derham says. The UK is several years behind other European countries and the US, where e-scooters have proved popular in the last few years, and they’re still relatively new to the capital. A year-long rental trial in eight boroughs launched last month. The pandemic brought the trials forward as e-scooters offered a socially distanced, outdoor way to travel. The government hopes they will also prove an affordable, eco-friendly alternative to short car or moped journeys. E-scooters have had a mixed reception since they became available for hire in the UK last summer, following accidents, fines and a spate of crimes involving privately owned vehicles in recent years. Shortly before my arrival, our guide was heckled by a passerby about what “a nuisance” they are. Disability groups also warn that they pose certain safety concerns for some disabled people getting around urban areas, particularly those who are visually or hearing impaired. Hostility towards private e-scooter use, a common sight in public places in the last few years despite being illegal, is a real concern. “Our biggest fear is that people will let negative perceptions of privately owned e-scooters affect the trial,” Derham says. To rent one, users must be over 18 and have a valid driving licence, complete a safety quiz and the vehicles are tracked through the app. “The rental system does create better users,” Derham feels. “The problem isn’t the vehicle, it’s whether it’s being used responsibly and in a way that’s accountable.” Back in Finsbury Circus, on a quiet afternoon, we’re a stone’s throw from bustling Liverpool Street but our small group has this elliptical, leafy corner of the City of London all to ourselves. Which is just as well, as we’re about to begin our practice. After scanning my provisional driving licence and unlocking the e-scooter with the app, we’re given a safety tutorial and taught how to ride. They have a capped speed of 12mph, and after a shaky start and some questionable turns, it isn’t long before I’m weaving through the Square Mile. In a duckling formation with guides at the front and back, we mostly use cycle lanes and cycleways, with bursts through busier, more intimidating roads. For much of the two hours, we hardly meet much other traffic at all, winding through medieval alleys, past hidden courtyards and gardens, learning about the City’s fascinating and often downright bizarre history in between. Putting the tours together was a labour of love for the guides, who have worked in London’s tourism industry for the last six years and have been out of full-time work for much of the last 16 months owing to the pandemic. They’re used to making most of their money in the summer, but with international travel and tourism still far from normal, it’s impossible to predict how this season will go. Most of their customers so far have been UK tourists and they’re hoping to tap into the domestic market this summer. “I think that after lockdown, people want to see their home areas in a way that’s different and quirky, to just get out and about and do something they haven’t done before,” says Derham. As for me, this won’t be the last time I hire one. I still don’t have a full driving licence, having failed my practical exam years ago and never revisited the issue. And now that I’ve mastered scootering, it appears I don’t have to.