{"id":1785,"date":"2025-12-09T08:45:54","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T08:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/badvibes.live\/?p=1785"},"modified":"2025-12-09T08:45:54","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T08:45:54","slug":"inside-the-mission-to-stop-illegal-e-bikes-from-whizzing-around-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/badvibes.live\/?p=1785","title":{"rendered":"Inside the mission to stop illegal e-bikes from whizzing around London"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Police are racing through city streets on powerful\u00a0e-bikes\u00a0<\/a>to take down criminals using them to snatch watches, phones and bags from pedestrians.<\/p>\n

Curbing these e-bikes, which are often used by thieves to snatch phones and watches, is a priority in the new policing plan launched by the Mayor of London and Metropolitan Police today (Tuesday).<\/p>\n

The bikes can sometimes exceed 50mph as they whizz through central\u00a0London<\/a>, blindsiding unsuspecting pedestrians.<\/p>\n

But they are now being pursued by Met officers on their own electric bikes to level the playing field.<\/p>\n

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BadVibes <\/strong>joined a ride out on Friday evening to see this initiative in action as scores of officers met at Cambridge Circus on Shaftesbury Avenue.<\/p>\n

Police were stopping e-bikes suspected of having been \u2018souped up\u2019 \u2013 meaning they have been upgraded to go faster, surpassing the maximum speed of 15.5mph for an e-bike motor under UK law.<\/p>\n

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The modifications\u00a0are easy to spot to the trained eye due to noticeably larger battery packs on the bike frames.<\/p>\n

However, some don\u2019t need to be modified as they are manufactured to be faster and sold as such in online market places.<\/p>\n

The police stopped dozens of suspect bikes \u2013 many from delivery riders. Experts inspected the bikes to assess\u00a0whether they are legal, and police confiscated 16 of them.<\/p>\n

Those seized were loaded into a lorry and many will later be crushed. One person stopped was also detained on suspicion of a sexual offence during the operation.<\/p>\n

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Although the majority of those confronted were delivery riders, the police operation aimed to draw a \u2018line in the sand\u2019 and warn thieves using electric bikes that they are a Met police priority.<\/p>\n

The Met now has a fleet of Surron e-bikes which can exceed a speed of 50mph. The nimble tool enables them to chase suspects down narrow roads unlike a regular police car in pursuit.<\/p>\n

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High speed SUVs in \u2018interceptor teams\u2019 are also used by the Met, with drivers trained to block and in extreme cases knock suspects off bikes.<\/p>\n

The interceptors often lay in wait for the thieves and ambush them as they ride into the West End to plunder phones and luxury watches.<\/p>\n

They keep in contact with the Met\u2019s e-bike team, which can more easily weave through traffic in chase.<\/p>\n

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Met Police<\/a>\u00a0Commissioner\u00a0Sir Mark Rowley<\/a>\u00a0told\u00a0Metro\u00a0<\/strong>before the operation that the menace of e bikes and the criminals who use them for robberies would a be high priority in the months ahead.<\/p>\n

Police have seized 2,500 e-bikes in the past year, with the Met warning that a seemingly generous\u00a0Christmas<\/a>\u00a0gift could end up on the scrap heap.<\/p>\n

To make the point, illegal e-bikes seized by the Met have been crushed and put under the Christmas tree outside\u00a0Scotland<\/a>\u00a0Yard. Police are warning that if you get an illegal bike as a gift, it could end up with a similar fate.<\/p>\n

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He said: \u2018These e-bikes are dangerous, it\u2019s anti-social, some are involved in\u00a0crime<\/a>, it\u2019s not nice if you are walking along the pavement and one of these screams past you.<\/p>\n

\u2018This issue comes up in every borough if you are buying e bikes at Christmas they better be legal (or you will lose them).\u2019<\/p>\n

The Commissioner said: \u2018If you are a menace on one of these bikes, you will lose them.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Crime in the West End is lower than this time last year,\u2019 he added.<\/p>\n

London crime figures from the Metropolitan Police<\/h2>\n
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Between April 1 and October 29, officers achieved reductions in several types of crime in the West End compared to the same period last year:<\/p>\n