'Our lives will never be the same again after Lime bike crash'

It happened so fast and with no warning.

Jane Ouartsi was walking across an empty St Giles Square in central London on 4 August 2023 when she was hit by a Lime bike.

It was being ridden by a boy thought to be 10 years old.

The impact was very serious and long lasting. She suffered a broken femur, a fractured collar bone and two spinal fractures requiring three operations.

In total she has spent 36 days in hospital.

The police did not take action against the boy, and there has been no compensation from Lime.

Jane can only just talk about the incident now. She still doesn't know how she survived the crash.

"We'd had a lovely lunch and seen a light exhibition and next minute, the impact.

"I thought oh my god what's gone into me? I heard my spine and my body split and I thought I've gone - I just didn't know what was happening."

An ambulance arrived and she was urgently treated by paramedics who "couldn't understand my injuries", she explains.

"They couldn't get stuff into my veins. They had to try and straighten me but had to be careful because of my back, my leg. I was just a broken china doll.

"They had to operate and put me back together again and help me to walk.

"I had to have a back brace on because of my spine as it would have collapsed. It's been a long journey, I had to learn to walk again."

Lime is one of a number of dockless hire e-bike operators in London and owns roughly 40,000 bikes across the capital.

Councils are paid by e-bike hire companies to operate in their boroughs, with riders paying to use the bikes per minute.

Their introduction has not been without controversy with many concerns over inconsiderate parking and riding.

Lime says it has public liability insurance.

Since the crash, Jane's partner Dave Mathias has been looking after her and trying to get answers and some compensation. Everywhere he turns he is frustrated and can't understand why there are no safeguards.

"He was going as fast as they can go. I turned round and Jane was falling to the ground in slow motion. It was real shock. She was screaming," he says.

"The kid was still there, I think he'd been winded. I was tending Jane until the ambulance came."

He says he feels abandoned by both Lime and the authorities.

"I know they have the technology to slow down these Lime bikes in certain areas so why not do that so this doesn't happen?

"I think all the people who have been injured they should be compensated. Also I think the bikes should be regulated. How on earth can they be given a permit? Why don't people look into this?

"They need to be put in docking station not strewn all over the pavement... The council should look into it a lot more before they sign it off."

The English Devolution Bill, which is has received Royal Assent, should give Transport for London the powers to regulate and license dockless e-bikes.

London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan previously told BBC London the sector was "like the Wild West" and "we desperately need regulation", but that "lobbying [the government] has paid off".

"If this government carries through its promise to bring in regulation around e-bikes, e-scooters, dockless bikes, we hope there should be better standards across London."

BBC London has reported on other cases such as Sandy Peters who was also injured when she was hit by an underage rider using a Forest bike. She faces thousands of pounds in dental bills.

Jane believes action needs to be taken.

"I was terrified going on the pavement - I still am. It's like the Wild West with the Lime bikes. They're still zooming on the pavements.

"There has to be a law so they're not zooming on the pavements and are underage. How are underage kids getting them? If an elderly person had got my injuries, they wouldn't have survived or young child," she says.

Lime says it has been in direct contact with the family and last responded to them earlier this year.

There has been no further correspondence since then, and there are no outstanding questions required of Lime to respond to.

A Lime spokesperson said: "Our thoughts are with Jane and her family, and we are sorry for the distress this incident has caused.

"We take incidents like this extremely seriously. This situation has been carefully reviewed and handled in line with our policies.

"Safety informs everything we do at Lime - from how we design and maintain our vehicles, to our rider education, and how we work with cities."

Dave thinks the whole system is flawed and needs reform.

"We feel helpless and very angry indeed that there is no-one accountable for stuff like this. There's virtually no-one willing to help you," he says.

"It's a sorry state of affairs when people can just be innocently walking on a pavement having a wonderful afternoon and in an instant their life is changed by an unregulated service."

"They're not accountable and no-one seems to be able to help. There's no law and no justice. It's changed our lives completely and they will never be the same again."

Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk