Police sell seized e-bikes on auction sites despite fears they return to criminal hands

A BBC investigation has found that electric bikes and e-motorbikes confiscated by police forces across the UK are being listed for sale on commercial auction websites, sometimes explicitly advertised as having been "sold at the direction of police". The practice has prompted warnings that the vehicles — which campaigners and policing officials say have become a favoured getaway and transport option for offenders — could end up back in the hands of the criminals they were taken from.

Thousands of e-bikes and e-motorcycles are seized by police every year, typically because they are suspected of being ridden illegally or used in the course of an offence. The large majority are destroyed. But the BBC's research suggests a growing minority are instead reaching the open market.

Police forces across the country sold 161 e-bikes and e-motorcycles last year, according to figures obtained by the BBC through Freedom of Information requests. The comparable figure for 2024 was 54. The BBC notes that the true totals are likely to be higher, because not every force replied to its information request.

Several forces said they had now abandoned the practice altogether, while others defended it as a legitimate way of raising funds. Six forces confirmed to the BBC that some of the vehicles they had seized had been sold on, including two of the country's larger forces, West Midlands Police and Police Scotland.

The figures cover two distinct categories of machine. Electrically-assisted pedal cycles, commonly known as e-bikes, resemble ordinary bicycles but have a motor that provides assistance as the rider pedals. Electric motorbikes are generally far more powerful and are propelled solely by their motor. The distinction matters because legal e-bikes are restricted to speeds of no more than 15.5mph under motor power, whereas e-motorbikes capable of much higher speeds cannot lawfully be ridden on public roads, pavements or footpaths.

Police Scotland, which has responsibility for the whole of Scotland, said it sends seized e-bikes to an accredited recycler, who may then choose to auction them, with the proceeds returned to the force. Last year, 93 e-bikes seized by Police Scotland were sold — more than any other force in the UK. It was one of the six forces that responded to the BBC confirming sales had taken place.

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

West Yorkshire Police sold two e-bikes at auction last year. The force said revenue from the sales is divided between the force and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, with some money going to what it described as "local good causes". It stressed that all the bikes sold were "legally compliant".

The BBC also found evidence of forces selling e-scooters. 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. Durham, which sold 29 e-bikes last year, said it has since reviewed its policy and will now crush seized bikes "without exception". West Mercia, which sold 24 e-bikes, gave the same assurance, saying it will no longer sell e-bikes or e-scooters. Greater Manchester Police sold a single e-bike last year.

Clive Grunshaw, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Lancashire, said the practice sends out a "confused message", pointing out that there is "nowhere apart from [a] back garden that these scooters can be legally used". He urged police forces to stop selling e-bikes, which he said have become the "transport of choice for drug gangs" precisely because they are "so difficult to catch".

Grunshaw also suspects that some offenders whose vehicles are confiscated attempt to recover them by buying them back at auction, and raised the prospect of criminals purchasing legally compliant e-bikes and subsequently fitting illegal modifications. Such modifications are readily available: tuning kits, often advertised online from sellers in eastern Europe, can allow standard e-bikes to reach speeds of around 40mph.

The vehicles are usually sold through commercial auction platforms. The BBC found the website Raw2k, which is listed by a number of forces, regularly advertising e-bikes as "sold at the direction of police". Among the listings was a Chinese-manufactured electric dirt bike said to have 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 equivalent model.

The findings come against a backdrop of growing concern about e-bike misuse. Recent BBC reporting has documented cases of balaclava-clad young men riding the machines illegally on footpaths and intimidating residents. The vehicles have also been linked to a number of pedestrian deaths, including 86-year-old grandmother Gloria Stephenson, who was struck at a zebra crossing in Sunderland last year by an illegal e-motorbike.

Taken together, the figures suggest a patchwork of policies across UK policing, with some forces destroying seized machines, others auctioning them, and a growing number moving to end the sale of e-bikes and e-scooters altogether. For campaigners and commissioners who argue the machines are disproportionately used for crime, the shift towards destruction — and the money that auctions generate for stretched forces — is likely to remain contested.