Illegal e-bikes crushed in police crackdown
BBCHundreds of unregistered motorbikes and illegal e-scooters and e-bikes have been crushed as part of a police crackdown.
Operation Scramble saw police forces in Sussex and Surrey seize a large number of the illegal vehicles amid growing concerns about public safety.
Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Katy Bourne visited Silverlake Garage near Southampton, Hampshire, to see them destroyed and sent off for recycling.
"A big message to everybody in the run-up to Christmas - if you're buying these make sure you adhere to the law," she said.
The operation targets riding illegal e-bikes and e-scooters on roads, pavements and in community areas.
It is against the law to ride a privately owned e-scooter in public, including on pavements, on roads and in parks.
Thames Valley Police (TVP) said its roads policing unit and its Oxford Cowley neighbourhood team had confiscated 35 of the illicit vehicles in Oxford during the past week.
Dorset Police seized 99 e-bikes and 128 e-scooters across the county in 2025 in response to an increase in reported incidents over illegal e-vehicle misuse.
Bourne said her post bag was "full of complaints" from members of the public, particularly the elderly.
"You can't hear these coming, they're electric, they come up very fast," she said.
"Some of them have been modified, so they go quicker than they're meant to and they're clearly being ridden illegally, unlawfully."
She said Sussex Police "are no longer going to educate everybody, they're actually going to seize these".
"If you're going to buy these, they're not recreational toys - if you ride them on the road, make sure you adhere to the regulations.
"If you're riding them unlawfully, you're not getting them back."
