Police seize more than 500 e-scooters in 10 months

Police seized eight e-scooters and nine illegal e-bikes in a single day in Derby

Derbyshire Police has seized 568 e-scooters that were being ridden illegally on the street in the space of 10 months.

The force started to confiscate privately owned e-scooters ridden in public places on the first offence from November 2024 after a rise in complaints from members of the public.

Insp Lee Welsby said the force was also taking an educational approach to make people aware privately owned e-scooters could only be used on private land.

He added: "We know this continues to be a concern for many people who have had near misses with e-scooters in pedestrian areas, but these numbers demonstrate that we are working to tackle this and keep pedestrians, and the e-scooter riders, safe."

Injuries relating to e-scooter collisions have dropped year-on-year

A rental scheme that allowed e-scooters to be ridden in public places and was overseen by Derby City Council stopped in January 2024.

But Stephen Hughes, traffic management officer for Derbyshire Police, said the removal of the council-run scheme had little impact on the number of complaints because "99% of e-scooters that were seen in Derbyshire were privately owned".

He added: "The removal of the government scheme and reduction within figures in our country doesn't really bear much comparison.

"They were becoming a nuisance to the public and over the past couple of years, they were featuring quite high in complaints made to Derbyshire Constabulary and the police and crime commissioner.

"That's in many ways, by riding all over the pavement and down pedestrian ways, more notably down St Peter's Street and East Street, because they are very silent and quick.

"They were also often left lying around, which became a hazard for people with impairments."

The number of people who reported they suffered injuries as a result of a collision with an e-scooter dropped from 19, between January and July 2024, to nine in the same period in 2025.

Mr Hughes said the injuries reported in 2024 were more serious and involved some people who had been hospitalised and suffered broken bones, compared to more minor injuries such as "bumps, bruises and scrapes" in 2025.