E-scooters are "death traps", a Met Police chief has warned ahead of their rollout in London, as it emerged more than four per day are being seized from the streets.
A year-long trial, beginning on Monday, will allow visitors and residents to hire the electric vehicles and travel around the capital in a greener way, all at a safety-conscious top speed of 12.5mph.
Transport for London (TfL) has hailed the move as a key part of the city’s sustainable future and pandemic recovery.
However, Simon Ovens, from the Metropolitan Police’s road and transport policing command, has warned that e-scooters are "absolute death traps", and has revealed that officers seized about 800 this year alone. This equates to around four every day.
E-scooters have raised safety concerns since they began popping up in cities, with reports of riders travelling too fast and ignoring red lights. Others have been caught riding while drunk, and some criminals have even used the vehicles to speed away from police down side streets.
In 2018, there were four recorded collisions in London, which rose to 32 in 2019.
The same year, TV presenter and YouTuber Emily Hartridge became the first person in Briton to die in an accident involving an e-scooter. She hit a lorry while riding in Battersea.
At an inquest into Ms Hartridge's death, a coroner concluded "the scooter was being unsuitably driven, too fast and with an underinflated tyre and this caused the loss of control and her death".
Accident numbers are said to be underreported, as riders using them in prohibited areas are unlikely to tell police they have had a collision.
Conservative peer Lord Blencathra, a former Home Office minister, described the devices as "silent killing machines".
The Met supports the trial and has vowed to increase enforcement.
The trial scooters will cost £1 to unlock and 16p per minute thereafter. A total of 200 will be made available initially. They can be unlocked using a mobile application and will be positioned in special marked bays on pavements and in converted car parking spots.
More than 40 towns and cities in the UK, including Birmingham and Manchester, are already taking part in a government e-scooter trial.
The London trial had been delayed due to the complexity of the capital's streets. It will begin in Canary Wharf, the City of London, Kensington and Chelsea, Ealing, Richmond, and Hammersmith and Fulham.
The operators, Lime, Dott and Tier, have been granted special licences by TfL to operate in the capital.
However, privately-owned e-scooters have always been prohibited on public UK roads and pavements. Riders face a £300 fine and points on any current or future driver’s licence.
Intoxicated e-scooter riders can be prosecuted under drink-driving laws.
They are classed as motor vehicles, so require insurance, which is being provided by the three trial operators in London. Customers must be aged over 18 and have a valid driver's licence.
The trial e-scooters are manufactured to strict standards and will come to an automatic halt if the rider strays into an area of the capital not participating in the trial.
They also have bigger wheels and suspension compared with private e-scooters, so are able to better absorb potholes. Their stopping distance is two metres.