Met Police seize record 2,500 e-bikes and scooters in 2026

London's Metropolitan Police have seized a record number of illegal electric bikes and scooters in 2026, surpassing last year's total in just the first half of the year, as part of an enforcement campaign targeting modified vehicles used in crimes such as phone theft. The crackdown includes the use of portable testing technology to identify vehicles that exceed legal speed limits.

During a targeted operation near Tottenham Court Road Station on Friday, July 24, officers confiscated 29 ebikes and seven escooters. This was the seventh such operation this year, with five more planned throughout the summer. So far in 2026, the initiative has led to the seizure of more than 2,500 illegal ebikes and escooters, exceeding the 2,241 vehicles impounded in all of 2025. Two arrests were made during the July 24 operation, one for assaulting an emergency worker and another for public order offences, theft, and recall to prison.

To efficiently identify non-compliant vehicles, police are deploying portable dynamometers, known as "rolling roads," which act as treadmills to measure whether a vehicle can propel itself faster than the legal limit of 15.5 miles per hour. The Metropolitan Police and...