More than 800 e-scooters and e-bikes seized in city

More than 800 illegally ridden e-scooters and e-bikes have been seized since the launch of a police operation to tackle the problem in Leicester.

Operation Pedalfast began in January 2025 and a year and a half on, the force said it had now taken 834 vehicles off the city centre's streets.

Beat officer PC Tom Page-Brown told BBC Radio Leicester the initiative had proved to be a success and was now being rolled out to other areas around Leicestershire.

Leicester City Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said Operation Pedalfast was "an excellent initiative" the council was "very happy to support".

The operation began targeting vehicles that should not be ridden on public land after an email from a member of the public, said Page-Brown.

He said: "It all started with with one simple email coming in from a member of the public to my sergeant that said 'we've had a near-miss'.

"We've seen quite a lot of seizures recently so obviously it is quite a big problem - not just the one email.

"There's no getting away from the fact that they aren't useful vehicles. They're cheap to buy, cheap to run, easy to store and easy to charge.

"The police's concern is the conflicts that happen when we've got people on these illegal e-vehicles coming into contact with legally wheeling and walking pedestrians in our city centres - that conflict is a real issue."

The cost of damages paid out to people injured in the UK by e-scooters and e-bikes has topped £110m, the BBC has learned.

E-scooters are allowed in towns and cities where official trials are taking place, but only the vehicles which are part of the operator schemes can be ridden.

Privately owned e-scooters can only legally be used on private land with the owner's permission.

While e-bikes are legal, any that have been adapted to go faster than 15.5mph (25km/h) using electricity are also not permitted on public land.

Page-Brown said: "They become a motor vehicle themselves and that's when they need insurance and that's when we're not happy to have them on our roads."

These rules have been supported by Leicester City Council, which distributed leaflets explaining the operation and the law to businesses, and publicised the crackdown on digital screens across the city centre.

Soulsby said: "This is an excellent initiative of Leicestershire Police, and one we've been very happy to support.

"Along with the other anti-social behaviour prevention work being carried out by our new Public Spaces Protection Order team, the removal of so many illegal vehicles from the streets has made a real difference to our city centre."

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