HOW UK POLICE FORCES POLICE ELECTRIC SCOOTERS

REVEALING THE TRUTH ABOUT THE POLICING OF E-SCOOTERS IN THE UK

Written by Ed Wiles, Scootered Founder

Key Points

Introduction

The UK government's approach to electric scooter has been a bit of a mess, but mostly ignored due to the Covid pandemic, war in Ukraine and any number of other (usually more important) things. In 2019 and 2020 they accounced crackdowns but only the Met Police were really taking any action. Also in 2020, hire schemes began trialling in various UK cities before spreading across the country. The problem remains (as of August 2022) that e-scooters are classified as motor vehicles and, as they are not taxable, are not legal to ride on public roads. Read more about the law on e-scooters. To see if police forces are implementing the law, I have been making FOI requests to UK police forces for data on e-scooter seizures and fines, and include the results below.

Results

The results below show that many more police forces have been taking action against e-scooters recently, though forces in and around London still take the most action. Although the Met Police announced they would stop routinely seizing scooters in November 2021, they had gone a bit crazy prior to this. Worryingly, many forces struggle (or do not bother) to differentiate between seizures for contravening the Road Traffic Act and seizures for other reasons (eg if the scooter was stolen or used in a crime) so the results tend to be an overestimate. For instance, West Yorkshire Police were only able to confirm three e-scooters were seized for contravening Road Traffic Act (their system is a mess, which may not surprise their populace), while Bedfordshire explained that they only seize e-scooters when there are "aggravating circumstances". Another caveat is that a police force can give a different answer to the same FOI request.

Fines and Confiscations by Each Police Force

Police Force	Fines 2019	Seizures 2019	Fines 2020	Seizures 2020	Fines 2021	Seizures 2021
Avon & Somerset	UNAVAIL.	1	UNAVAIL.	4	UNAVAIL.	21
Bedfordshire	UNAVAIL.	0	UNAVAIL.	1	UNAVAIL.	29
Cambridgeshire	UNAVAIL.	1	UNAVAIL.	4	UNAVAIL.	7
Cheshire Constabulary	UNAVAIL.	UNAVAIL.	UNAVAIL.	UNAVAIL.	UNAVAIL.	UNAVAIL.
City of London Police	0	12	0	2	0	65
Cleveland Police	UNAVAIL.	0	UNAVAIL.	0	UNAVAIL.	3
Cumbria	UNAVAIL.	0	UNAVAIL.	2	UNAVAIL.	12
Derbyshire Constabulary	UNAVAIL.	0	UNAVAIL.	11	UNAVAIL.	66
Devon & Cornwall Police	0	0	0	4	0	82
Dorset Police	0	0	0	0	3	47
Durham Constabulary
Essex Police	UNAVAIL.	1	UNAVAIL.	38	UNAVAIL.	317
Gloucestershire Constabulary	0	0
Greater Manchester	0	0	0	30	0	130
Gwent Police	UNAVAIL.	0	UNAVAIL.	20	UNAVAIL.	31
Hampshire Constabulary	UNAVAIL.	UNAVAIL.	UNAVAIL.	UNAVAIL.
Hertfordshire	0	0	0	15	UNAVAIL.	38
Humberside Police	UNAVAIL.	0	UNAVAIL.	10	2	25 *
Kent Police	0	0	10	5	50	71
Lancashire Constabulary				13		59
Leicestershire Police	UNAVAIL.	0	UNAVAIL.	6	UNAVAIL.	58
Lincolnshire Police	0	0	UNAVAIL.	UNAVAIL.	UNAVAIL.	UNAVAIL.
Merseyside
Metropolitan Police Service	UNAVAIL.	54	UNAVAIL.	284	UNAVAIL.	3987
Norfolk Constabulary	UNAVAIL.	1 **	UNAVAIL.	12	21	181
North Wales Police	UNAVAIL.	0	UNAVAIL.	0	UNAVAIL.	12
North Yorkshire	UNAVAIL.	UNAVIAL.	UNAVAIL.	UNAVAIL.	UNAVAIL.	1
Northamptonshire	0	0	0	12
Northumbria Police	UNAVAIL.	0	UNAVAIL.	0	UNAVAIL.	18
Nottinghamshire Police	UNAVAIL.	UNAVAIL.	UNAVAIL.	UNAVAIL.	UNAVAIL.	UNAVAIL.
Police Scotland	UNAVAIL.	UNAVAIL.
South Yorkshire	0	UNAVAIL.	0	3
South Wales Police	0	0
Staffordshire	0	0	0	0	17	31
Suffolk Constabulary	UNAVAIL.	0	UNAVAIL.	9	24	126
Surrey Police	UNAVAIL.	0	UNAVAIL.	12	UNAVAIL.	75
Sussex Police	0	0			22	98
Thames Valley	UNAVAIL.	UNAVAIL.	UNAVAIL.	UNAVAIL.
Warwickshire Police	0	0	1	10	5	25
West Mercia Police	0	0	0	4
West Midlands Police	UNAVAIL.	0	UNAVAIL.	0
West Yorkshire Police	UNAVAIL.	0	UNAVAIL.	20	UNAVAIL.	3 ***
Wiltshire Police	UNAVAIL.	0	UNAVAIL.	5	UNAVAIL.	16
TOTAL	0	69	11	501	142	5538

* Humberside warn some seizures may relate to mobility scooters. ** Norfolk reported an "adapted child's scooter" being seized for not having insurance. I include this as an e-scooter. *** More reported but only three recorded for contravening Road Traffic Act, meaning others could have been seized in connection with robberies etc.

Recovering Your Electric Scooter

Police forces should be taking scooters seized under laws regarding "motor vehicles" to their vehicle recovery units (eg Charlton or Perivale in London), where owners can retrieve their scooters for a fee (the Met charges £150 plus £10 for every day). However, I have heard that police forces are failing to inform owners of their rights and/or refusing to release scooters. I believe this to be illegal: unlike a car, an e-scooter can be carried away and the police would thus seem to have no legal right to refuse returning it to the owner.

Confiscations By Metropolitan Police Per Month in 2021 (results since 2019)