In a striking escalation of the safety issue that has seen sales of Babboe bikes and e-bikes put on hold, several employees have now claimed that management were aware that frames were breaking and refused to admit it to customers. “We always had to lie,” said one.

The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) last week stopped Babboe from trading on the basis that the company had not provided enough information to prove that some of its models were safe to use.

The regulator says Babboe received hundreds of reports of broken frames and failed to report them, even though this is a legal requirement.

A number of different models are consequently subject to a mandatory recall, including the Dog-E we reviewed in 2020.

In a statement on its website, the NVWA says, “The cargo bikes can be sold again when it has been sufficiently demonstrated that they are safe, among other things by means of full technical documentation.”

This alone would be a major blow for the Accell Group-owned brand, but Dutch broadcaster RTL Nieuws has now spoken to employees who say that not only were management aware of frames breaking, but that the issue had almost become almost a normal aspect of everyday operations.

“We always had to lie,” said one employee. “I made up a story to the customer: ‘This never happens.’ And gave them a free rain tent and a free pillow.”

Another said that an ironmonger would come round each week to collect broken frames.

Responding to the allegations, Babboe said only: "We take the situation very seriously and all aspects are part of our ongoing investigation."

On its UK website, the firm states: “Babboe and the NVWA continue to work together to ensure that the requested information is provided as quickly as possible, so that sales can be resumed. Until then, we will follow the NVWA’s advice to not use the Babboe cargo bikes.

“We are currently consulting with the NVWA to prepare for a recall of certain Babboe models. We will inform Babboe owners of this as soon as possible.