A Daily Mail investigation found that Lime, the e-bike rental firm, is failing to enforce its own parking rules, allowing riders to leave bikes blocking pavements, doorsteps and landmarks across the country without facing warnings or fines. Reporters were able to park bikes obstructing entrances and footpaths in several London boroughs despite the app flagging the poor parking, exposing flaws in Lime's GPS-based enforcement system and raising concerns about accessibility and safety for pedestrians, including disabled and blind people.

The investigation, spanning Wandsworth, Southwark and Greenwich, saw a reporter commit 26 parking contraventions—including blocking theatre entrances, leaving a bike on the steps of Southwark Cathedral, and parking inside the porches of private homes—without receiving a single warning, despite Lime's stated policy of escalating fines up to £20 and eventual bans for repeat offenders. Lime's exclusion zones around landmarks such as the Cutty Sark were sometimes bypassed too, and the firm recently apologised after a glitch left bikes blocking a pavement in Bromley, forcing a blind couple and their guide dog into a busy road; Lime says new GPS technology being rolled out should improve enforcement.