Christmas e-scooters may be crushed, parents told

9 December 2025

Natalie BellEast Yorkshire and Lincolnshire

News image — PC Susan Scott with electric bikes and scooter seized by officers

BBC A female police officer dressed in a black uniform, yellow hi-vis vest and white hat stands in a warehouse surrounded by electric bikes and scooters. Behind her is a black screen. The bike closest to the camera resembles a scrambler motorcycle, with a large saddle and colourful cowling. — PC Susan Scott with electric bikes and scooter seized by officers

E-scooters and some e-bikes bought for children at Christmas will be crushed if ridden illegally, a police force has warned parents.

Humberside Police said it had seized 250 e-scooters and 81 e-bikes in the past 12 months.

It is illegal to ride a privately owned electric scooter in public places, including on roads and pavements, while electric bikes must not be capable of exceeding 15.5mph (25km/h) and can only be ridden from the age of 14.

PC Susan Scott said: "We are trying to say to people don't buy them, they're dangerous. They're going at speeds that are too fast for children to handle."

She added: "They're sold as toys, kids want them for Christmas.

"It's an attractive piece of kit and I can see why they want them, but we have to scoop them up off the road and take them to hospital with broken bones."

Two electric scooters, both black with colourful flashes, stand on a metal platform in a yard under a grey-blue sky. They have seizure notices attached to the handlebars. Various buildings can be seen in the background, including a house, a small grey portable building and a shed-type structure. To the right, a Union flag flies on a white flagpole. — Officers are warning parents e-scooters will be seized if ridden illegally

People over 14 can ride an e-bike as long as it is an "electrically assisted pedal cycle".

But among the e-scooters and e-bikes seized by police were modified versions capable of reaching speeds of up to 60mph.

PC Scott said there had been "an increase in serious collisions" and warned "there will be fatalities".

"The public are fed up of seeing these e-scooters and e-bikes on our roads and we are taking a stance against them.

"I would say to parents don't buy them. You are wasting good money on a very expensive piece of kit and it's just going to be taken off you.

"They'll just end up in the crusher."

A man with short blonde hair, slicked back, and stubble smiles as he stands in a workshop in front of a number of scooters of various sizes on a white shelf. He is wearing a black polo shirt. The scooters have colourful liveries and logos reading "Liferyder". — Allan Haagensen with some of his unpowered scooters

Nationally, there were 1,312 collisions involving e-scooters in 2024, with 1,390 casualties and six fatalities, according to figures from the Department for Transport.

E-scooters were involved in 80 road traffic collisions in the Humberside force area between April 2022 and March this year.

In most parts of the UK, it is only legal to ride e-scooters on private land.

While a number of trial schemes for rented e-scooters are running in parts of the country, only people with a full or provisional driving licence can take part in them.

Allan Haagensen, who runs Liferyder – a manufacturer of traditional unpowered scooters based in Cottingham, East Yorkshire – said he believed children should not be riding e-scooters.

"With children's e-scooters they have an electronic brake, whereas with traditional scooters you put your foot on a brake and it stops it and you're in control," he added.

"You only go as fast as you want to go, so just the fact that it's not powered makes it safer."

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