Seized e-bikes resold to public on police auction sites despite crime fears

Electric bikes and e-motorbikes confiscated by police forces across the UK are being put up for sale on commercial auction websites, an investigation by the BBC has found, prompting calls for the practice to be halted over fears the machines can return to the hands of offenders.

Thousands of the vehicles are seized every year because they are suspected of being ridden illegally or used in the course of crime. The large majority are destroyed, but a growing number appear to be reaching the open market through auction platforms, where they are advertised explicitly as having been "sold at the direction of police".

Figures obtained by the BBC through Freedom of Information requests show that police sold 161 e-bikes and e-motorcycles last year, compared with 54 in 2024. Not every force responded to the request, meaning the true total is likely to be higher. Six forces confirmed to the BBC that some of the vehicles they had taken were sold rather than scrapped, including two of the country's larger forces, West Midlands Police and Police Scotland.

The category covers two quite different kinds of machine. Electrically-assisted pedal cycles resemble conventional bicycles, with a motor that provides assistance as the rider pedals, while e-motorbikes tend to be far more powerful and are propelled entirely by their motor. Both have become highly contested, with critics arguing they are increasingly associated with criminality and anti-social behaviour.

That concern has been sharpened by recent BBC reporting on cases of balaclava-clad young men riding the machines illegally on footpaths and intimidating residents. The vehicles have also been linked to a series of pedestrian deaths, most notably that of 86-year-old grandmother Gloria Stephenson, who was struck at a zebra crossing in Sunderland last year by an illegal e-motorbike.

Police Scotland, which covers the whole of Scotland, said it sends seized e-bikes to an accredited recycler, who may then decide to auction them, with proceeds returned to the force. Last year the constabulary sold 93 e-bikes — more than any other UK force.

West Yorkshire Police sold two e-bikes at auction last year. The force said money raised was divided between the force and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, adding that some of the cash went to "local good causes". It said all of the bikes it sold were legally compliant.

West Midlands Police, which sold 12 e-bikes last year, said the "vast majority" of seized bikes were destroyed, with a "small number" sold through an independent auction company "so that the money can be put back into policing".

E-scooters have also been appearing on the market. Durham Constabulary sold three last year, and West Mercia Police sold one. West Mercia also sold 24 e-bikes. Both forces said they had recently reviewed their policy and would no longer sell either e-bikes or e-scooters.

The issue has turned the vehicles into a policing dispute as much as a transport one. Clive Grunshaw, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Lancashire, said there was "nowhere apart from [a] back garden that these scooters can be legally used, so it's a confused message."

He urged police forces to stop selling e-bikes, arguing that they had become the "transport of choice for drug gangs" precisely because they are so difficult to catch. Grunshaw suspects some offenders whose vehicles are seized simply repurchase them at auction, effectively reclaiming the means of escape. He also warned that criminals are buying legally compliant e-bikes from police and then fitting them with illegal modifications.

That last point speaks to a regulatory gap. Legal electric pedal bikes are restricted so that they cannot exceed 15.5mph under motor power alone. Criminals can, however, buy "tuning kits" online — often from sellers based in eastern Europe — which can push some machines to speeds of around 40mph, well beyond both the legal limit and the safety of a machine built for pedal assistance.

Several forces have moved to end the practice entirely. Durham Constabulary, which sold 29 e-bikes last year, said it had reviewed its policy and would now crush them "without exception". Greater Manchester Police sold a single e-bike last year. Some forces, by contrast, continue to defend sales as a legitimate way of returning money to policing budgets.

Most of the vehicles reach buyers through commercial auction sites such as Raw2k, which is listed by several forces. The site regularly advertises e-bikes as "sold at the direction of police", including a Chinese-manufactured electric dirt bike that it said was auctioned from Falkirk earlier this month with an opening bid of £250 — a fraction of the £3,295 retail price quoted for a new model.

The disclosure raises awkward questions about who ultimately benefits. While forces point to funding shortfalls and "local good causes", campaigners and commissioners argue that a public body acting as the seller of a vehicle linked to serious offences is creating a ready-made route back into criminal use, at a price that makes repurchase cheap and anonymous.

It is illegal to use a privately owned e-scooter on public property, although simply owning one is not an offence — a distinction that critics say further blurs an already confusing message. With forces now split on policy, and more announcing changes in the wake of the BBC findings, the debate is likely to intensify over whether police should ever sell seized vehicles back to the public at all.