London council begin seizing electric bikes causing 'significant obstruction' on streets

A London council has been granted powers to begin seizing dockless electric bikes that block pavements and cause a nuisance to pedestrians.

From today, Thursday, July 2, Westminster City Council will begin using existing highway powers to seize dockless bikes across the capital's busiest borough.

Trained City Inspectors will be given the green light to remove bikes left by operators where they can create a danger or "significant obstruction".

Examples include bikes blocking dropped kerbs, tactile paving, bus stops, cycle lanes, school entrances, access ramps or narrow footways.

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The council explained that seized bikes will be moved to a secure storage facility, at which point operators will be required to pay a removal cost to get the bikes released.

Since November 2025, City Inspectors have issued more than 2,500 fixed penalty notices via section 149(2) of the Highways Act 1980.

Westminster City Council said the latest move to crack down on dockless bikes causing a nuisance was a "significant step up".

Officers will now be able to act immediately by removing a bike that poses a risk to highway users, rather than waiting for operators to remove it themselves.

Councillor Caroline Sargent, Cabinet Member for Enforcement at Westminster City Council, said teams would be ready to act and remove bikes if they are causing issues.

She continued, saying: "Westminster fully supports sustainable travel and the role dockless bikes play in getting people around the city.

"But that cannot come at the expense of safe, accessible pavements for residents, wheelchair users and everyone else who uses our streets.

"We have worked with operators and issued fines, but where that is not enough, we will now seize the bikes ourselves."

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The enforcement process will be backed up by evidence taken by officers, who will record the location, time, operator, bike identification number and take photos.

Four dockless bike operators operate under collaboration agreements with the council and have been seen across the borough for almost 10 years.

These operators will be informed promptly of the seizure and given the chance to recover the bikes from the council's designated storage site.

Westminster council will keep the enforcement programme under review by monitoring hotspots, costs recovered, bikes seized and operator responses.

Westminster has taken inspiration from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), which began a similar seizure programme in January 2025.

Between January 2025 and June 2026, RBKC council seized more than 2,500 rental e-bikes for causing "immediate danger or significant obstruction".

The vast majority of confiscated electric bikes were from operator Lime (1,624), while Forest (787), Voi (61) and Bolt (44) were also targeted.

RBKC council has charged operators more than £210,000 in fees to cover the seizure, storage and release of the dockless bikes.

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