Seized e-bikes resurface on police auction sites, sparking fresh safety fears

Electric bikes and motorbikes confiscated by police forces across the UK are being listed for public sale on commercial auction websites, in some cases advertising themselves as "sold at the direction of police", a BBC investigation has found. The practice has drawn criticism that the vehicles — which police say are frequently linked to illegal riding and organised crime — are being returned to the streets rather than scrapped.

Thousands of e-bikes and e-motorcycles are seized by police every year, either because they are suspected of being ridden illegally or because they were used in the course of an offence. The large majority are destroyed. But the BBC's research, based on Freedom of Information requests to police forces, suggests a growing number are instead being sold to the public.

Across the UK, police sold 161 e-bikes and e-motorcycles last year, compared with 54 in 2024. Police Scotland alone accounted for 93 of last year's sales, more than any other force. The true figure is likely to be higher, because not every force in the country responded to the BBC's information request. Six forces confirmed to the BBC that some of the vehicles they had seized had been sold, among them large organisations such as West Midlands Police and Police Scotland.

The sales cover two distinct categories of machine. Electrically-assisted pedal cycles look much like conventional bicycles, with a small motor that assists as the rider pedals, while electric motorbikes are generally far more powerful and move under motor power alone. Both have become increasingly controversial, with campaigners and residents arguing that a growing number are used for anti-social behaviour and crime.

Recent BBC reporting has documented cases of balaclava-clad young men riding illegal e-bikes on footpaths and intimidating residents in communities across the country. Such vehicles have also been linked to a series of deaths, including 86-year-old grandmother Gloria Stephenson, who was struck by an illegal e-motorbike while on a zebra crossing in Sunderland last year.

Police Scotland, which has responsibility for the whole of Scotland, said it sends seized e-bikes to an accredited recycler, who may then decide to put them up for auction, with the proceeds returned to the force. West Yorkshire Police sold two e-bikes last year, and said the money raised was divided between the force and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, with some going to "local good causes". The force added that all the bikes it sold were legally compliant.

West Midlands Police, which sold 12 e-bikes last year, said the "vast majority" of bikes it seized were destroyed, with a "small number" sold through an independent auction company "so that the money can be put back into policing". Several other forces have defended sales on similar grounds, arguing that the revenue helps fund front-line policing. Others, however, have since changed course.

The e-scooter trade has raised similar concerns. It is illegal to use a privately owned e-scooter on public property, although simply owning one is not an offence. Durham Constabulary sold three e-scooters last year, while West Mercia Police sold one — and West Mercia also sold 24 e-bikes. Both forces said they had recently reviewed their policy and would no longer sell e-bikes or e-scooters. Durham, which sold 29 e-bikes last year, said vehicles would now be "crushed without exception". Greater Manchester Police sold a single e-bike last year.

Clive Grunshaw, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Lancashire, is among those urging forces to stop selling the vehicles altogether. "There's nowhere apart from [a] back garden that these scooters can be legally used, so it's a confused message," he told the BBC. He said e-bikes have become the "transport of choice for drug gangs" because they are "so difficult to catch".

Grunshaw also suspects that some offenders whose vehicles are confiscated simply repurchase them at auction, effectively recovering the means to continue offending. Even where bikes are sold legally, he worries offenders are buying compliant models and then fitting illegal modifications. Legal e-bikes are restricted to speeds of no more than 15.5mph under motor power, but "tuning kits" advertised online — often sourced from eastern Europe — can allow some machines to reach around 40mph, well beyond what the law permits and far harder for police to pursue.

Most of the vehicles appear to be moving through mainstream commercial auction platforms, including Raw2k, a company named by several forces. Listings on such sites regularly describe e-bikes as "sold at the direction of police". The BBC found, for example, a Chinese-manufactured electric dirt bike advertised as having been auctioned from Falkirk earlier this month, with an opening price of £250 — a fraction of the £3,295 listed as the retail price of a new model.

The findings raise a straightforward question for police leaders: whether revenue from sales is worth the reputational and safety costs of potentially returning high-powered, easily modified machines to the public, some of which may be bought by the very people they were taken from. With forces moving in different directions — some scrapping everything they seize, others auctioning large numbers — the issue looks likely to remain under scrutiny.