Met Police set new record and seize 2,500+ illegal eBikes and escooters

London’s Metropolitan Police have seized over 2,500 illegal electric bikes and e-scooters this year already – surpassing the total number it seized in the entirety of 2025. More than 4,750 seizures have been made in 19 months on London’s roads.

The Met is one of the first police forces in the country to deploy new technology, such as ‘rolling roads’, enabling officers to test the speed of suspected modified bikes at the roadside and quickly determine whether they comply with legal requirements.

The record-breaking figures highlight the success of the Met’s ongoing crackdown on the illegal modification and dangerous use of two-wheelers, helping to improve road safety and cut crime across London.

The news comes soon after a different UK force, West Midlands Police, had to reverse their decision to prosecute a Birmingham cyclist after wrongly seizing and destroying a legal eBike worth £6,500.

Commander Neerav Patel, who leads the Met’s crackdown on eBikes, said: “We are continuing to come down hard on those who use illegally modified eBikes, whether to drive dangerously or to commit crimes such as phone snatching and drug dealing.

“By combining the use of new technology like ‘rolling roads’ with an intelligence-led approach to precisely target hotspot areas, we have cleared thousands of two-wheelers from our streets and crushed them.

“What we are doing is clearly working. Phone theft in the West End, increasingly perpetrated by thieves riding illegal eBikes, has nearly halved. We’ll continue to do everything we can to make London an even safer city for everyone to enjoy.”

On Friday 24 July, officers set up a stop-site in Camden where they deployed ‘rolling roads’ to test suspected modified e-bikes and e-scooters. 36 vehicles were seized, with two arrests made.

The Met said that illegal eBikes and mopeds are frequently used by offenders to commit crimes like theft from person and personal robbery, and the crackdown on illegal eBikes and e-scooters has seen reductions in these neighbourhood offences.

In March, officers seized 52 eBikes and mopeds during a two-day operation in the West End and Harlesden, as well arresting a man in possession of a combat knife. Phone thieves are increasingly using high-powered eBikes to snatch phones and evade police, often riding dangerously through busy areas. In June, the Met launched a ten-day crackdown on phone theft across London. Hundreds of arrests were made, including those of known, prolific and violent thieves. The operation forms part of the Met’s largest ever crackdown on phone theft which has resulted in 13,000 fewer offences across London during the last financial year.

Tackling two-wheel enabled crime remains a priority, the Met said, with plans in place to expand the force’s fleet of high-powered eBikes to pursue offenders more effectively.