Kent PCC wants e-scooters used on public roads seized and crushed

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E-scooterImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

A legal e-scooter scheme trial in Canterbury came to an end in November 2022

E-scooters used on public roads should be seized and crushed, a county's police and crime commissioner has said.

Matthew Scott said the vehicles were "not road safe" or "road legal" and should not be on Kent's roads.

He said now a trial in Canterbury had come to an end, he did not want the "perception to rise that they have been effectively decriminalised".

E-scooters are illegal to use on public land unless in a town or city covered by a government trial.

Mr Scott was sharing his thoughts about e-scooters at a meeting of the Kent and Medway Police and Crime Panel on Tuesday.

'Educate first'

"The panel knows my view on e-scooters," he said.

"Seize them and crush them because they are not legal on any public land in Kent now that we don't have the trial down at Canterbury.

"I don't want the perception to rise that they have been effectively decriminalised, when in fact they are not road safe, not road legal and should not be on our roads."

Labour county councillor Shane Mochrie-Cox told the meeting the vehicles were "perceived to have been decriminalised" and that enforcement was a "postcode lottery".

Kent Police's head of prevention, Supt Pete Steenhuis, said if an officer came across "an e-scooter being used incorrectly", they would "first seek to educate the rider and encourage them to adhere to the legislation".

"If riders refuse to follow advice, or if they are seen using an e-scooter in a dangerous or anti-social manner, we will use our powers to seize the vehicle and take further enforcement action," he added.

In July 2022, 80-year-old Sarah Carter broke her wrist and fractured her jaw when she was knocked over by am e-scooter as she walked along a pavement.

Five months later, Kent County Council refused an offer from the Department for Transport to continue the pilot scheme in Canterbury until May 2024.

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