It took just minutes to confiscate a van full
Officers from the Bristol Central neighbourhood policing team stopped and seized eight illegal e-scooters and e-bikes in a short period at Turbo Island on Stokes Croft in Bristol(Image: Avon and Somerset police)
A police operation to stop and seize illegal e-bikes and e-scooters in the centre of Bristol over the weekend netted a total of eight e-scooters and two e-bikes in just a short period of time. Police in the city centre said they seized the vehicles and gave ‘appropriate words of advice’ to the people who were not arrested or cautioned, but had to continue their journeys on foot.
Officers from Bridewell Police Station in the city centre gathered at Turbo Island on Stokes Croft as part of an ongoing operation to target e-bikes and e-scooters.
People were stopped whether they were riding up Stokes Croft – the main A38 road north out of the city centre – on the road or the pavement. Any rider on a privately-owned e-scooter was stopped, and e-bike riders were stopped and had their bikes seized if they failed to meet the legal requirements.
Over the course of just a few minutes, a total of eight e-scooters and two e-bikes were seized, and a spokesperson for Bridewell police station said people should take legal advice if they aren’t sure if their e-bike is legal.
The law currently states that all e-scooters that are privately owned are illegal. The Government has not yet given them a legal status, so they cannot be insured, and can only be ridden on private property – not on the road, pavement or cycle path.
Officers from the Bristol Central neighbourhood policing team stopped and seized eight illegal e-scooters and e-bikes in a short period at Turbo Island on Stokes Croft in Bristol(Image: Avon and Somerset police)
The only e-scooters that are legal are the ones that are currently part of a national trial of e-scooters, which are hired through an app and provided by a ‘micro-mobility’ supplier. That trial has been going on since 2020, and was recently extended again, as the Government continues to decide whether to make all e-scooters legal, and if so, whether they will require licences and insurance, or be given the same status as bicycles.
E-bikes, however, are a bit more of a grey area. Police officers from Bridewell police station told riders they stopped that e-bikes can only be ridden if they fall within the legal traffic compliance.
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That includes having a battery that must be no more than 250 watts, they must have pedals, and the power from the battery is there to assist, not to propel, the bicycle. And the maximum speed the e-bike can go must not exceed 15.5mph.
“If you’re unsure whether your bike or scooter is road legal, seek advice and don’t get caught out,” a spokesperson said.
It’s not the first crackdown on e-bikes and e-scooters in Bristol city centre – a couple of months ago, a major operation seized many e-scooters outside the McDonalds entrance to Cabot Circus on the Haymarket.
Officers from the Bristol Central neighbourhood policing team stopped and seized eight illegal e-scooters and e-bikes in a short period at Turbo Island on Stokes Croft in Bristol(Image: Avon and Somerset police)
While illegal e-scooters have been an issue for a number of years in Bristol, the growth in high-powered e-bikes that are effectively like motorbikes rather than bicycles, is a more recent phenomenon, with technology and price of the e-bikes that are capable of reaching speeds of 40 or 50mph, meaning they are increasingly seen on the streets of Bristol.
The off-road ‘scrambler’ version is a particular problem at the Downs, local residents say. One man told Bristol Live how he was chased and his car attacked after he tried to take photos of two riders of high-powered e-bikes last month.
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