By
Transport correspondent
When I step out of Southampton Central railway station, it takes me just seconds to spot an e-scooter. In this city, these devices have become a normal part of the transport ecosystem, along with e-bikes.
“It’s just the most convenient way to commute from home to the station and back,” says Keith Reed, who I speak to as he arrives at the station to catch a train to London. Keith says uses rental e-scooters twice a week. His alternative option would be his bike, but he’d then have to worry about where to leave it.
Around the city, there are parking areas for bright orange rental devices everywhere – but they’re not necessarily a permanent feature. Southampton hosts one of the numerous government-backed trials around England. This one has been going on since 2021.
Image caption, A study suggests around half of users of e-scooter do so in conjunction with another mode of transport – like Keith, who rides to the railway station
It also doesn’t take long to find e-scooters which aren’t part of the trial, but instead are owned by individuals. I see a man riding one along the pavement outside a parade of shops. He doesn’t want to stop and talk.
These privately owned e-scooters are illegal to ride on public roads across the UK, but they’ve proliferated regardless. One expert told me the situation was a “Wild West”.
Among people I spoke to in Southampton, the same concerns came up time and time again: “They’re a blinking nuisance,” says elderly pedestrian Fred. Another shopper, Martin, says he’s “very concerned” whenever he sees them racing through precincts: “An accident’s almost inevitable.”
The endgame of the trials is to reach a decision on whether to make permanent hired e-scooter schemes such as the one Keith uses – and whether to bring in legislation that would legalise and regulate privately owned e-scooters too.
But six years since the trials started around England, there’s still no conclusion – and as the UK government has responsibility for road traffic legislation across Great Britain, officials in Scotland and Wales say they are waiting on Westminster to act.
So why is it taking so long for the government to decide what to do, and what are the consequences of delay? What does the evidence tell us about how safe these things are?
And why are people using them in the first place – are they here to stay as a useful part of the transport offer, or will they end up being viewed as a pest on our streets?
What are e-scooters – and who rides them?
You’d recognise an e-scooter if you saw one. The Department for Transport’s (DfT’s) definition of an e-scooter includes no pedals, two wheels and a maximum continuous power rating of 500W.
And so far, the trials around England appear to have proved popular. According to DfT research, fom January 2022 to May 2024, 36.9 million trips were made across 30 trial areas outside of London. On average, nearly 19,500 e-scooters were available to hire every day.
Dr Yasir Ali, a reader in Transport Modelling at Loughborough University, says e-scooters are “complementary” to other modes of transport, rather than replacing them. Due to factors such as range and being exposed to the elements, they are less suitable for longer trips, rural areas with less infrastructure or in bad weather. They work best as “a first- and last-mile solution” in urban areas, to reduce reliance on cars for short trips.
Shared mobility charity CoMoUK’s 2025 report suggests that for more than half of the people using rental e-scooters, the most common use was travelling to work or school. Its analysis of DfT data suggests the majority of people using hired e-scooters are male and under 35.
“Sometimes it’s a bit difficult to take the bus from dot to dot”, says Yan Zhang, who works at Southampton university and doesn’t drive, “so for shorter distances, I’ll take the scooter.”
Image caption, Like Yan Zhang, e-scooter users are less likely to have a car, CoMo’s report says – this is partly explained by official trials’ concentration in urban areas
Around half of respondents to CoMoUK’s online survey used it in conjunction with another mode of transport – such as riding to a railway station, like Keith.
Earlier evidence from a national evaluation of the trials published in 2022 found that although some users would have driven instead had they not had access to an e-scooter, the biggest “modal shift” – meaning switch in ways of getting around – to e-scooters was from walking. Given walking is an active mode of travel, this has raised questions over how significant the public health impact of e-scooter use really is.
And the usage of privately owned e-scooters isn’t reflected in this research. The DfT has said between 760,000 and 1.2 million people in England aged 16 and over own one – despite the fact that it remains illegal to ride them in public.
In the eyes of the law, e-scooters are classed as motor vehicles. Outside of the trials, they can’t be insured, and thus can only legally be ridden on private land, with the owner’s permission.
Image caption, Parking bays for e-scooters and e-bikes are available across Southampton
The trials themselves are bound by strict rules. The devices’ top speed is limited. Businesses who operate the pilots must insure them. Users must have a full or provisional driving licence, and they must not ride on the pavement. Helmets are recommended but not mandatory.
Richard Dilks, CEO of CoMoUK says “mass-scale use of something that is inherently low-carbon, low-impact, low-cost” is a “good thing” but “we also don’t have rules of engagement about how they should be ridden”.
And as a result of the delays in introducing regulation, Loughborogh University’s Yasir Ali says “we are increasingly in a situation where the law and reality have diverged”, with “the disadvantages of e-scooter use without securing the full benefits of regulation”.
Against the law
Back in Southampton, I meet a lady pushing a black e-scooter, who doesn’t want to give her name. She says nobody told her when she bought it that it was illegal to ride on the streets.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency has a unit that carries out surveillance of retailers to check they’re complying with the law. But earlier this month, an investigation by the Press Association news agency discovered some retailers were advertising them for commuting purposes.
Police tell me they regularly see children illegally riding private e-scooters. Margaret Winchcomb, deputy executive director at the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS), says some are being specifically marketed at kids.
Image caption, Police say they will seize privately owned e-scooters that are ridden illegally
So what can police do? Forces regularly launch crackdowns where they seize illegally used devices, and often crush them. Each year, awareness campaigns run urging parents not to buy their kids an e-scooter for Christmas. But enforcement is a challenge.
Insp Matt Boiles from Avon and Somerset’s road policing team says problems arise even with the legal trial devices – for example, people riding them after drinking alcohol, which counts as drink-driving. Riding with another person on the back is another common issue.
But officers see private e-scooters being illegally ridden in public places “all the time, every single day” and they can be really hard to catch – it isn’t always safe for police in a car to pursue someone on an e-scooter, he says.
Insp Boiles despairs over parents buying them for children: “We do have parents attend a police station quite a lot, getting very, very upset that their child’s £500 e-scooter has been seized.” But “the legislation is really, really clear that you can’t have it back”.
How safe are they?
For many the biggest concern is safety.
There’s a potential risk of fire if unregulated devices with lithium batteries are left to charge unattended. Most train operators have banned e-scooters on board for this reason.
But there’s also the fact that riders are unprotected in the case of falling off or being hit by motorised vehicles. And – along with e-bikes – they can end up involved in collisions where pedestrians are hurt. Many trial e-scooters in the UK are restricted to 12.5mph, but privately owned scooters’ speeds aren’t.
Some coroners have even raised concerns. In 2022, a coroner in London called for action after the death of 14-year-old Fatima Abukah on a privately owned scooter.
According to the DfT, in 2024 – the most recent year for which figures are available – 1,390 casualties were recorded in collisions that involved e-scooter in England, Scotland and Wales, three more than in the previous 12 months. The vast majority, 1,096, were e-scooter users themselves.
Young boys and men appear to be over-represented in the stats. Of the casualties, 302 – the most of any age and sex category – were males aged 10-19.
Six deaths were recorded in 2024, unchanged from the previous year. Five of these were riders and one a pedestrian.
Although the numbers aren’t conclusive, it is thought more accidents are happening on privately owned e-scooters. Winchcomb says police statistics “aren’t reflective of the number of injuries”.
Nonetheless, campaigners believe there is enough evidence to show that regulation is urgently needed.
Carly Calland’s 14-year-old son Jacob died in March 2025 of a catastrophic head injury. He was a passenger on an e-scooter that was involved with a collision with a car.
If privately owned e-scooters are legalised for public use, Carly believes, there should be mandatory helmets, a ban on carrying passengers and penalties for parents that allow children to ride illegally.
“If Jacob was wearing a helmet that day, he would still be here,” Carly, from Wythenshawe in Greater Manchester, says.
Carly is not against e-scooters. They “are really good for people to get to work, and they are eco-friendly”, she tells me, but “they just need to be used in the correct way.”
What happens if the current situation goes on? Her answer is emphatic: “More deaths.”
What’s behind the delay
Meanwhile a number of major European cities have ended their shared e-scooter schemes. Paris abolished them after a referendum in 2023. Brussels is the most recent, announcing theirs would end in 2027, following a rise in accidents.
The last evaluation of the trials in England was in 2022. New findings are expected by early next year.
In recent years, successive British transport secretaries have supported the idea of a new law to legalise and regulate the e-scooters available for sale. E-scooters were mentioned in the 2022 Queen’s speech, but nothing materialised.
More from InDepthWinchcomb says some of the “dithering” may be because of the potential knock-on effect of any legislation for users of mobility scooters.
There is some frustration from devolved administrations around the UK about the delays in Whitehall. The Scottish Government “will continue to urge the UK government, which holds powers on registration and licensing over off-road vehicles, to take action in this area”, a spokesperson says.
The Welsh Government says it will “monitor developments on legalisation plans and consider the implications for Wales”.
Northern Ireland’s Department for Infrastructure says it is also monitoring the trials in England, as well as the impact of recent law changes in the Republic of Ireland.
The DfT says it says the trials are “building the real-world evidence needed to get regulation right” and it will consult on longer-term rules, including registration and licencing requirements, within the next year.
“E-scooters have real potential to improve local connectivity and cut emissions, and we want to see that potential realised safely and responsibly across the UK,” a spokesperson says.
But Ali says: “The current halfway house becomes harder to justify as usage grows.”
Even if legislation and associated technical standards were introduced, Richard Dilks acknowledges enforcing them would remain difficult.
But, he adds: “That problem only gets bigger if you leave it.”
BBC InDepth is the home on the website and app for the best analysis, with fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions and deep reporting on the biggest issues of the day. Emma Barnett and John Simpson bring their pick of the most thought-provoking deep reads and analysis, every Saturday. Sign up for the newsletter here
Get in touchAre you personally affected by the issues raised in this story?
