UK Police seize & destroy legal e-bike
a
- Thread starter Maxi
- Start date
@Powerslider It's because of things like this that Police in the UK are cracking down on eMotos and derestricted eBikes:
Unfortunately "eBike" is catch all term.
Unfortunately "eBike" is catch all term.
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one life gone, one life ruined
these wannabe gangsters with their Surrons and balaclava's - it's almost pitiful
if you rode your horse looking like that 200 years ago you were a highwayman, the gallows was waiting.
pagheca
Active member
The police are always looking for innovative enforcement methods.an update: charges dropped, bike will be reimbursed and they will stop using that dumb “test”
Police to stop using “bogus” e-bike speed test as charges against delivery cyclist who had £6,000 cargo bike seized and destroyed are dropped | electric bike reviews, buying advice and news - ebiketips
West Midlands Police is exploring alternative methods of spotting illegal e-motorbike use after the force apologised for seizing and destroying a legal e-cargo bike hired by a delivery cyclist as part of a council-funded scheme.The charges against the cyclist, which West Midlands Police...road.cc
Their latest one seems to be throwing the e-bike off a 30-meter or more cliff: if it exceeds 25.001 km/h during the fall it's immediately declared "non-compliant". The improvement of this method is that the bike's destruction takes place just a few tenths of a second after the non-compliancy declaration, but even more astonishing are the preliminary statistics: so far, 100% of the e-bikes tested have reached speeds of more than 80 km/h during the test.
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I’m interested in learning who you think I’m lobbing a dig towards. There was no attack towards anyone here. Don’t manufacture one in my name. Speak for yourself instead of imputing my motives.
My point is regarding the severity of the penalty, and not if there should or should not be a penalty.
I've a lot more to say on this topic, without offending, without pointing fingers, without politics, and without speculation.
There's one member on here that seems to be full of personal attacks, virtue signalling, threatening behaviour and debate censorship.
You know who you are.......
There's one member on here that seems to be full of personal attacks, virtue signalling, threatening behaviour and debate censorship.
You know who you are.......
For reference, maximum fines for Arizona motor vehicle offenses (first offense):
Driving w/o a license: $750
Driving w/o registration: $300
Driving w/o insurance: $500
Total: $1550
The above fee schedule is my baseline for when I say I feel destroying a $3000-$12,000 e-bike for the same offenses is disproportionate. More so when you know you’re not necessarily going to get fined the maximum for multiple simultaneous violations.
This isn’t a call for no enforcement/penalties; only ones that are more proportional to the violations.
Driving w/o a license: $750
Driving w/o registration: $300
Driving w/o insurance: $500
Total: $1550
The above fee schedule is my baseline for when I say I feel destroying a $3000-$12,000 e-bike for the same offenses is disproportionate. More so when you know you’re not necessarily going to get fined the maximum for multiple simultaneous violations.
This isn’t a call for no enforcement/penalties; only ones that are more proportional to the violations.
Obviously you should make a visit to the West Midlands (which is over 5,000 miles from Arizona) to advise the police and us ignorant limeys of the error of our ways.
Joecrow
Active member
Yes and also inform them about the proportionality of Arizona's death penalty!Obviously you should make a visit to the West Midlands (which is over 5,000 miles from Arizona) to advise the police and us ignorant limeys of the error of our ways.
TheKaiser
Active member
Yeah, that contrast with motor vehicle deaths always comes to the front of my mind too, whenever we hear some politician or commentator saying the classic "if it saves just one life, it will be worth it".One of the local politicians said "we have to stop this [illegal ebikes] before someone is killed " , my answer to that was " dont you need to stop cars before 10 millionth person is killed "
Wanting to save a life is a noble sentiment, but the obvious practical difficulties and untenable compromises of codifying that sentiment in an attempt to stop all manner of things that could, in theory, result in a death, seems to escape some people.
Clearly, society has determined that the convenience of cars is worth the direct cost to human life (roughly 40k annually here in the USA), and the same sort of cost/benefit analysis should be applied evenly, without double standards, to other categories.
Quality conflation of two different issues.
The difference in modern life is that motor vehicles are largely a necessity whereas so-called e-Bikes are largely a convenience and often leisure object.
There is certainly an issue of unregistered often non-type approved ebikes, or if you like mopeds and motorcycles being used on the roads across the UK.
I’ve just seen a clip on the X of what I am led to believe is the Metpolice (London) doing road side checks using a dyno-meter. They have a large truck with quite a number of confiscated ebikes tied down on it, with presumably many more to add!
It is suggested offenders are prosecuted and their bikes confiscated. Hopefully we’ll start to see more of this across the country.
Though having said that, such bikes though often a nuisance are still a minor issue compared to the 30,000 UK KSI figure (Killed and seriously injured) on our roads.
I suspect there is also an education issue. I see quite a number of e-scooters and clearly non-bicycle ebikes being ridden about my town, and the impression I get is that the riders have either no idea that they are breaking the law, or little understanding of the potential serious nature of the offence.
I’ve just seen a clip on the X of what I am led to believe is the Metpolice (London) doing road side checks using a dyno-meter. They have a large truck with quite a number of confiscated ebikes tied down on it, with presumably many more to add!
It is suggested offenders are prosecuted and their bikes confiscated. Hopefully we’ll start to see more of this across the country.
Though having said that, such bikes though often a nuisance are still a minor issue compared to the 30,000 UK KSI figure (Killed and seriously injured) on our roads.
I suspect there is also an education issue. I see quite a number of e-scooters and clearly non-bicycle ebikes being ridden about my town, and the impression I get is that the riders have either no idea that they are breaking the law, or little understanding of the potential serious nature of the offence.
Just like that I've found some more info;
news.met.police.uk
Met seize record 2,500 illegal e-bikes and e-scooters this year
Over 4,500 have been seized since the beginning of 2025.
news.met.police.uk
Those of us that ride bicycles that fully conform to the EPAC regulations have a role to play by correcting the media, politicians and even the police whenever possible ( eg in media comment sections) . I understand why the term "ebike" has become virtually universal, but in law (at least UK law) there is no such vehicle. Continued use of term is what has led to the conflation of EPACs (bicycles) , with a variety of illegal variants.
Yesterday I saw an article of UK police using a dynometer ( portable rolling road type device) to test a bike.........they need not have bothered.....when tested on the dyno the police officer just used the throttle!
I think it is more an issue that the bicycle industry needs to address. Ebike is a generic term that the bicycle industry had adopted, ebikes are vehicles but you are correct in saying that they are not defined in law.
I can’t help but think the industry should adopt the term e-bicycle and lobby the government to make it a legal term describing EAPC. I don’t think we’re ever gonna get the public and the press to adopt and understand EAPC, but e-bicycle could be a simple easy to understand designated term for EAPC.
I don’t know what the dyno test involves. But obviously one test would be to determine whether a bike is throttle operated or not. After that I’m thinking checking cut out assist if the bike has pedals. Measuring actual power output could be potentially be troublesome.
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