The force has seized over 200 e-scooters in the past 3 years
The number of e-scooters seized by Humberside Police has more than doubled year on year. Humberside Police figures have also revealed that e-scooters were involved in 80 road traffic collisions between April 2022 and March this year.
Under the current law, it is illegal to use a privately owned e-scooter on public land. Some towns and cities operate rental e-scooter schemes, with only provisional or full driving licence holders permitted to use them.
However, data collected by Personal Injury Claims UK from Freedom of Information (FOI) requests show that illegal use of such scooters in Humberside is rife. The force seized 121 e-scooters in the year to March 2025, which represented a sizable increase from the 51 seized in the year before.
The national data displays how this is not just an issue in Humberside. The figures from 29 forces in England and Wales, show that 5,544 e-scooters have been taken off the streets since 2023.
Humberside Police’s website offers more insight into the rules surrounding e-scooters. It states: “It’s not currently possible to get insurance for privately owned e-scooters. This means it’s illegal to use them on the road or in public spaces, such as parks, street pavements, and shopping centres.
“If you use a privately-owned e-scooter in public, you risk the vehicle being seized under S.165 Road Traffic Act 1988 for having no insurance. If you cause serious harm to another person whilst riding an e-scooter, the incident will be investigated in the same way it would if you were riding a motorcycle or driving a car.”
In response to the revealed figures, Chief Inspector Will Jenkins from Humberside Police’s Special Operations Unit said: “Our force currently runs several operations, led by local policing teams in a bid to tackle antisocial and illegal use of e-scooters, e-bikes and motorcycles.
“Operation Yellowfin, supported where necessary by Operation Yokohama, are additional specialist initiatives aimed at tackling reckless, antisocial and illegal vehicle use across our force area. Through targeted days of action identified through intelligence given to our teams by the public, we have been able to increase enforcement of illegal e-scooter use, leading to an increase in seizures.”
The data also reveals the roads where e-scooter collisions took place in the Humber Region. The roads include the A1029, A1033, A1079, and B1233.
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