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 that are powered by a motor.

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

There are two ways of using an e-scooter:

Owning your own e-scooter

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. 

Where you can use your own e-scooter

If you own an e-scooter, you can only use it in on private land, such as in a garden. But you must have the permission of the landowner to do so.

Rental e-scooters

You can rent e-scooters in some parts of the UK through e-scooter rental trials.

Where a rental trial scheme is running, rental e-scooters can be used on public roads, some cycle lanes, and other public spaces. But you must follow the relevant road traffic laws. If you don’t, you could face prosecution.

To use a rental e-scooter in an approved area you must:

When riding an e-scooter, you should always keep to the speed limit. We also always recommend wearing safety protection such as a helmet.

Penalties and offences

If you breach the rules when using an e-scooter you could face a fixed penalty notice.

Forces set and enforce penalties differently, so the penalty will vary depending on where the offence is committed. 

Devon and Cornwall police will not issue fines, so other forms of penalty will be used if you use an e-scooter in a public place when not part of an approved trial.

For other forces in the UK and Northern Ireland, the fixed penalty notice could include:

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

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.