Seized e-bikes back on the road as police auctions draw scrutiny

Thousands of electric bikes and motorbikes are confiscated by police across the UK every year, and the overwhelming majority are destroyed. But a BBC investigation has found that a growing number are instead being listed for sale on commercial auction websites, sometimes explicitly marked as "sold at the direction of police" — raising fears that confiscated machines are returning to the streets that officers cleared them from.

The figures are far from complete. Police forces sold 161 e-bikes and e-motorcycles last year, compared with 54 in 2024, according to responses to a BBC Freedom of Information request. Not every force replied, so the actual totals are likely to be higher. Six forces confirmed that some of the vehicles they had seized had been sold, among them two of the country's larger organisations, West Midlands Police and Police Scotland.

Police argue the sales are entirely lawful. Several forces said proceeds help to fund policing, and that bikes sold were unmodified and compliant with the law. West Midlands Police, which sold 12 e-bikes last year, said the "vast majority" of seized bikes were destroyed, with only a "small number" passed to an independent auction company so that the money can be "put back into policing". Police Scotland said it sends seized e-bikes to an accredited recycler, who may then choose to auction them, again with proceeds returning to the force.

Scotland's force was the biggest seller of any in the UK, with 93 e-bikes auctioned last year. West Yorkshire Police sold two, and said the cash raised was divided between the force and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, with some going to "local good causes". The force stressed that all bikes it sold were "legally compliant".

The vehicles in question fall into two distinct categories. Electrically-assisted pedal cycles, widely called e-bikes, resemble ordinary bicycles but have a motor that assists as the rider pedals; under UK rules their motor must cut out at 15.5mph. Electric motorbikes, by contrast, are typically far more powerful and are propelled only by their motor. Both categories have become politically charged because of their association with crime, anti-social behaviour and the phenomenon of riders travelling illegally on footpaths, which the BBC has documented in reporting on groups of balaclava-clad young men intimidating residents.

Concerns have been sharpened by deaths. Last year, 86-year-old grandmother Gloria Stephenson was struck at a zebra crossing in Sunderland by an illegal e-motorbike. Campaigners and police chiefs argue that enforcing a ban on private e-bikes and illegal modification is undermined if the same machines are sold publicly by the authorities themselves.

Clive Grunshaw, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Lancashire, said the practice sends a "confused message", pointing out that there is "nowhere apart from a back garden" where such vehicles can lawfully be ridden. He described e-bikes as the "transport of choice for drug gangs" because riders are "so difficult to catch" — helmet cameras, anonymous footage and a lack of registration make enforcement harder than for cars.

He also suspects a resale loophole. Some criminals whose bikes are seized simply try to repurchase them at auction, he said, and others are buying legally compliant models and fitting illegal modifications. Tuning kits advertised online — often sourced from eastern Europe — can push otherwise standard machines to speeds of around 40mph, far beyond the legal limit, and are widely blamed for the crop of high-profile cases involving modified e-bikes and e-scooters riding on pavements and in traffic.

Several forces have now reversed course. Durham Constabulary, which sold 29 e-bikes last year — as well as three e-scooters — said it had reviewed its policy and would now crush seized bikes "without exception". West Mercia Police, which sold 24 e-bikes and one e-scooter, has also confirmed it will stop selling both categories entirely. Greater Manchester Police sold just a single e-bike last year.

E-scooters have their own legal status in England and Wales: it is illegal to ride a privately owned e-scooter on public property, though owning one is not an offence. That distinction has made their auction sale a particular focus of criticism, with the vehicles usable in practice only on private land.

The route from police forecourt to public buyer is often remarkably short. Auctions are typically handled through commercial sites such as Raw2k, which is listed by a number of forces. The company's listings regularly describe e-bikes as "sold at the direction of police", including a Chinese-manufactured electric dirt bike said to have been auctioned from Falkirk earlier this month with an opening bid of just £250 — against a listed retail price of £3,295 for a new example of the same model.

Such minimal opening bids mean even low-value machines can attract a wide pool of buyers, including those with no way to prove their identity or intentions. Defenders of the policy point out that the alternative is destruction, and that recycling routes in some areas are limited. Critics counter that a machine destroyed costs the public nothing, while one sold cheaply may be resold, modified and ridden illegally, generating more work for officers rather than less.

For now, the picture across the UK is uneven. Some forces have stopped selling seized electric bikes and scooters, others continue to do so under policies they say support their budgets, and at least a handful of forces did not answer questions at all — meaning the true scale of the practice remains unclear. Regulators may yet face pressure for a consistent national rule on what happens to confiscated vehicles once they leave police custody and enter the marketplace.