What is an e-scooter?

Electrical scooters (also known as e-scooters) come under the category of “powered transporters”; this covers a range of personal transport devices which are powered by a motor.

E-scooters are classed as motor vehicles under the Road Traffic Act 1988. Which means the rules that apply to motor vehicles, also apply to e-scooters including the need to have a licence, insurance and tax.

It’s not currently possible to get insurance for privately owned e-scooters, which means it’s illegal to use them on the road or in public spaces. If you’re using a private e-scooter you risk the vehicle being seized under S.165 Road Traffic Act 1988 for 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.

Legal use of an e-scooter

It’s legal to use an e-scooter on private land with the permission of the land owner.

Where a trial rental scheme is running, it’s legal to use a rental e-scooter on a public road or cycle lane, provided you have the correct licence and follow road traffic regulations.

For further requirements of riding e-scooters that are part of a trial, see the Wiltshire Police website.

Penalties and offences

If you don’t have a licence, or the correct licence, or are riding without insurance you could face a Fixed Penalty notice:

• with a £300 fine and six penalty points on your licence for having no insurance
• up to £100 fine and three to six penalty points for riding without the correct licence

You could also be committing an offence if you’re caught:

• riding on a pavement; Fixed Penalty Notice and possible £50 fine
• using a mobile phone or other handheld mobile device while riding; £200 and six penalty points
• riding through red lights; Fixed Penalty Notice, £100 fine and possible penalty points
• drink driving: the same as if you were driving a car, you could face court imposed fines, a driving ban and possible imprisonment

If you’re using an e-scooter in public in an antisocial manner, you can also risk the e-scooter being seized under section 59 of the Police Reform Act.

What’s happening now?

The government are planning to reclassify e-scooters and introduce legislation to allow better regulation of e-scooters in the future. The government would then be able to stipulate that all e-scooters sold met certain standards concerning speed, power and lights, among other things.  Legislation takes a long time to pass through the Houses of Parliament and Lords, but we’ll update this page when there is any change.