Police across Scotland are confiscating record numbers of illegal electric bikes and scooters, leading to urgent political calls for officers to be granted strengthened powers to have them swiftly destroyed.
A Sharp Rise in Confiscations
Official figures reveal a dramatic escalation in seizures. In just the first nine months of last year, 452 e-bikes and 115 e-scooters were seized by police. This starkly contrasts with the totals for the entire previous year, 2024, which saw 272 e-bikes and 82 e-scooters taken off the streets.
The longer-term data from Police Scotland shows the trend is sharply upward. Seizures of e-bikes climbed from 29 in 2022 to 69 in 2023, before leaping to 272 in 2024. The figure for e-scooters followed a similar path, rising from 27 in 2022 to 30 in 2023, then 82 in 2024.
Political Pressure for a Tougher Stance
The surge follows widespread community concerns about these vehicles being used in crime and antisocial behaviour. Issues range from intimidating street racing to the blight of off-road biking in public parks.
Now, Scottish Labour is demanding reforms to give police enhanced authority. The party wants officers to be able to seize unlicensed vehicles and have them crushed rapidly, mirroring changes already enacted in England. There, perpetrators of antisocial driving face having their e-scooters or off-road bikes seized and destroyed after just 48 hours, rather than the previous 14-day delay which made it easier to reclaim them.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar stated: ‘Communities across Scotland are being plagued by the scourge of illegal e-bikes. Scottish Labour will crackdown on e-bikes as a policy priority. We will support the police to seize and destroy unlicensed illegal e-bikes and e-scooters.’
Legal Limits and Tragic Consequences
Currently, Police Scotland’s powers to confiscate these vehicles are limited to specific breaches of the law. These include contraventions of the Road Traffic Act 1988, the driver lacking a licence or insurance, or offences under the Antisocial Behaviour (Scotland) Act.
A Police Scotland spokesman confirmed their active stance, saying: ‘We are aware of concerns regarding the issue of non-compliant e-bikes and illegal e-scooters and whenever these vehicles are identified they are seized.’ Most seizures are related to the vehicles being uninsured and/or unlicensed.
The grave risks associated with illegally operated electric vehicles were tragically highlighted last July. Eighteen-year-old Kendal John Donaldson died in Ayrshire after colliding with an ambulance while riding an e-scooter around 2am.
The Scottish Government indicated ongoing engagement on the issue. A spokesman said: ‘Ministers and officials regularly meet Police Scotland and others to consider how best to deal with the illegal use of e-bikes and e-scooters. We also continue to engage with the United Kingdom Government... to consider what else can be done.’
With the final term at Holyrood before the election underway, Anas Sarwar added a political challenge: ‘In just four months we have a chance to call time on the SNP’s soft-touch approach to justice, restore community policing and make our streets safer.’
