Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps she is taking to ensure that privately owned e-scooters comply with the law.

The Department for Transport has previously written to micromobility retailers to remind them of their responsibility to provide their customers with accurate information about the legal restrictions on e-scooter use. The DVSA Market Surveillance Unit also carries out surveillance of e-scooter retailers to ensure they are being supplied in line with current legislation. When the MSU observes non-compliant advertising, they act to rectify this.

Until any changes are brought forward and come into effect, private e-scooters remain illegal to use on public roads, cycle lanes and pavements, and rental e-scooters can only be used in national rental e-scooter trial areas.

Law enforcement, including the enforcement of law on the road is an operational matter for the police, who will decide how to deploy available resources in dealing with all the issues for which the force is responsible, taking into account any specific local problems and demands.