E-scooters seized (FOI ref: 1331/26)

Request received 08 June 2026

For the purposes of this request, "e-scooter" refers to a privately-owned electrically powered scooter (powered transporter) and does not include electrically assisted pedal cycles (e-bikes), electrically powered motorcycles or mopeds.

Please provide the following information for each of the calendar years 2023, 2024 and 2025:

1. The number of privately-owned e-scooters seized by your force.
2. Of those e-scooters seized, the number that were subsequently released or reclaimed by their owners.
3. The number of Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs), Traffic Offence Reports (TORs), or equivalent traffic disposals issued in relation to the use of privately-owned e-scooters.

Where the information requested is held but not recorded in exactly the format requested, I would be grateful if you could provide the closest available recorded information.

This request is intended to capture information that can be retrieved by way of an electronic search of your force's records systems. I am not requesting that individual records be manually reviewed.

If any part of this request exceeds the appropriate cost limit under Section 12 of the Act, please treat each numbered question as a separate request for the purposes of cost calculations and provide any information that can be disclosed within the statutory limit. If refinement is required, I would be grateful for advice and assistance under Section 16 of the Act.

Should you consider any exemptions applicable, please specify which exemption(s) you are relying upon and explain why they apply.

We confirmed that Q3 could not be answered within the cost limit and proposed the following search:

For each of the calendar years 2023, 2024 and 2025:

1. The number of privately-owned e-scooters seized by your force.
2. Of those e-scooters seized, the number that were subsequently released or reclaimed by their owners.

Response

1. The number of privately-owned e-scooters seized by your force.

2023:   74

2024:   54

2025:   65

2. Of those e-scooters seized, the number that were subsequently released or reclaimed by their owners.

2023:   4

2024:   5

2025:   13

Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that this data has been extracted from a number of data sources used by forces for police purposes. The detail collected to respond specifically to your request may be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are considered when interpreting the data.

The figures provided therefore are our best interpretation of data which has relevance to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of figures for ad hoc requests may have limitations and this should be taken into account when those data are used.

If you decide to write an article / use the enclosed data we would ask you to take into consideration the factors highlighted in this document so as to not mislead members of the public or official bodies, or misrepresent the relevance of the whole or any part of this disclosed material.