LIME imposed red zones over large swathes of the borough on Friday in a move that has immediately prompted criticism from insiders at the Town Hall.

The decision to geo-fence areas around transport hubs – thereby blocking users from parking bikes – was dubbed “unilateral, rushed, and without consideration”.

Red areas even prevented riders from parking in designated dockless bike bays which have been paid for by the Town Hall, and complaints from Lime-users quickly flowed.

“They didn’t tell us they were going to do this, and it’s clearly the wrong way to fix the problem”, said one person who has been involved in negotiations with Lime.

“We weren’t consulted on this, and now they’re letting us take the flack. We’ve had a number of complaints from people who think we have done this, when it was a decision taken wholly by Lime who have failed to communicate that.”

The Tribune understands that the red zones were intended to stop workers causing noise by loading and unloading the bikes during the night.

Council representatives have argued, however, that Lime – like Forrest – should tell sub-contractors not to work at unsociable hours rather than impacting the user-experience.

The move comes after fraught negotiations left council chiefs threatening to withdraw the operator’s contract.

They had demanded Lime sort out issues of bikes parked in haphazard and obstructive ways, and late-night loading and unloading of the vehicles, but claimed the rushed red zones were counter-productive.

A spokesperson for Lime said: We are continuing to work with Islington Council to make changes to our zoning at some hotspot locations to try and minimise disruption for residents and riders following feedback.”