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E-scooters and e-bikes crushed in police crackdown

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary A large silver claw is pushing down on a pile of black escooters, with 'Carrera' written in white italics on, in a junkyard. There are piles of squashed metal cubes in the background and metal skips.Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary
The force said there had been a rise in the vehicles being used to commit serious crimes

More than 100 e-scooters and related electric vehicles have been crushed by police as part of a crackdown on their illegal use.

Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary destroyed them as part of Operation Crush, calling them a "blight" on communities.

The force said there had been a rise in the vehicles being used to commit serious crimes.

Sgt Jamie Dobson, of the roads policing unit, said destroying them after seizure stopped criminals "from going straight back out and committing the same offences multiple times".

A number of e-bikes seized had been modified to propel riders to dangerous and illegal speeds, with some ridden on major routes such as the A27 and the M3, police said.

Several were also involved in road traffic collisions where some riders were under the influence of drink or drugs, and others had knives and drugs.

Last year Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Donna Jones signed a contract enhancing officers' powers to destroy any e-scooter or e-motorcycle used in crime.

Police subsequently seized 105 vehicles in the operation, compared to 41 in 2023.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones stands in a car park, there is a black metal fence in the background with a number of cars parked up. Donna Jones stands in front of the fence, she is facing away from the camera, talking and there is a high-vis yellow police motorbike behind her. Donna Jones wears a navy blue smart woollen coat and has mid-length blonde hair.Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary
Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones watched the vehicles being crushed

Seizures in 2024

  • 26 illegally-modified e-bicycles
  • 15 e-motorbikes
  • 56 e-scooters
  • 8 off-road petrol motorcycles

Source: Hampshire police

Sgt Dobson said the deterrent was a "significant new weapon in our armoury to help us combat the rise in these vehicles being used in criminality and anti-social behaviour".

He also said a "particular focus" was the use of e-motorbikes and off-road scrambler bikes which were often used "for nothing other than dangerous road use, anti-social behaviour and serious criminality".

"They are almost always owned by the people riding them and when we seize and destroy them they are thousands of pounds worse off," he said.

PCC Jones said: "Too often we see people on privately owned e-scooters riding dangerously on roads and pavements breaking the law.

"I have seen a number of dangerous collisions, particularly on pavements, which have resulted in people suffering significant injuries, some of them life changing."

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