Seized e-bikes going back on sale at auction as police cash in, BBC finds

A significant number of electric bikes and e-motorcycles confiscated by police forces across the UK have been put back on the market through online auctions, an investigation by the BBC has found. The sales raise questions about public safety and policing priorities, with campaigners and a senior police figure warning that the vehicles can quickly return to the hands of those riding them illegally.

Thousands of the machines are seized every year, either because riders are suspected of using them against the law or because they are believed to have been used in the commission of a crime. The large majority are destroyed. But the BBC's research, based on Freedom of Information requests to forces up and down the country, indicates that a smaller number are being sold to members of the public instead of being crushed.

The data is incomplete, but the picture it reveals is striking. Police forces sold 161 e-bikes and e-motorcycles last year, compared with 54 in 2024 — a threefold increase. Officials stressed that the true figure could be considerably higher because not every force replied to the BBC's request. Six forces confirmed to the BBC that at least some of the vehicles they had taken had been sold, including two of the country's larger organisations, West Midlands Police and Police Scotland.

The figures cover two distinct categories of machine. The first are electrically-assisted pedal cycles, which resemble conventional bicycles but have a motor that activates as the rider pedals. The second are electric motorbikes, which are generally far more powerful and move solely on motor power. Under the law, legal e-bikes must be restricted so they cannot travel faster than 15.5mph on motor assistance alone.

E-bikes and e-motorcycles have become increasingly controversial in recent years, with a growing belief that they are linked to crime and anti-social behaviour. BBC reporting has documented cases up and down the country of balaclava-clad young men riding the machines illegally on footpaths and intimidating residents. The consequences are not always limited to intimidation: 86-year-old grandmother Gloria Stephenson was struck at a zebra crossing in Sunderland last year by an illegal e-motorbike and died.

One of the chief concerns raised by critics is what happens to a machine once it enters the hands of a new owner. Legally compliant e-bikes can be converted using "tuning kits", which are widely advertised online and often shipped from eastern Europe. Fitting one can raise the top speed of a bike to around 40mph, transforming a legal vehicle into one that is neither roadworthy nor insured.

Clive Grunshaw, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Lancashire, said the practice of reselling the vehicles sent out a muddled message. He pointed out that there is effectively nowhere outside a private garden where the machines can be ridden lawfully, yet forces continue to put them into circulation. He described e-bikes as the "transport of choice for drug gangs" precisely because they are so difficult to catch, and urged police forces to stop selling them altogether.

Grunshaw also raised the possibility that some offenders are not merely buying similar machines elsewhere but reclaiming the exact vehicles that were taken off them. He said he suspects that criminals whose vehicles are seized simply repurchase them from auction websites shortly afterwards. Even where that does not happen, he warned, criminals could buy a road-legal model from a force and then add illegal modifications of their own.

Individual forces have offered a range of explanations. 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 put them up for auction with the proceeds returning to the force. Last year, 93 e-bikes seized by Police Scotland were sold — more than any other force in the country. West Midlands Police, which sold 12 e-bikes, said the vast majority of the machines it seized were destroyed, with only a small number passed to an independent auction company so that the money can be reinvested in policing.

West Yorkshire Police sold two e-bikes at auction last year. The force said the money raised is divided between the force and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, with some cash directed towards what it called local good causes, and insisted that every bike it sold was legally compliant. Greater Manchester Police sold a single e-bike.

The BBC also found evidence that some forces have monetised e-scooters. It is illegal to use a privately owned e-scooter on public property, though owning one is not itself an offence. Durham Constabulary sold three e-scooters last year, while West Mercia Police sold one alongside 24 e-bikes. Both forces said they have since reviewed their policy and will no longer sell e-bikes or e-scooters.

Durham Constabulary, which sold 29 e-bikes last year, has gone further. Having reviewed its approach, the force said it will now crush confiscated machines "without exception". That shift suggests a growing sense within policing that the revenue from resale is small compared with the reputational and practical costs of putting illegal vehicles back on streets and paths.

Most sales appear to be routed through commercial auction platforms, with forces listing stock on websites such as Raw2k. The listings routinely advertise the origin of the goods, describing them as "sold at the direction of police". Among the items identified by the BBC was a Chinese-manufactured electric dirt bike said to have been auctioned from Falkirk earlier this month with an opening bid of £250 — a fraction of the £3,295 retail price quoted for a new model of the same machine.

The direction of travel is not uniform. Some forces, including Durham and West Mercia, have abandoned resale; others, such as West Midlands, continue to justify it as a way of putting money back into policing budgets. For now, the BBC's figures — drawn from a partial set of Freedom of Information responses — suggest that hundreds of seized e-bikes and e-motorcycles are still reaching the public each year through auction sites, in a debate that increasingly pits short-term financial gain against rider and pedestrian safety.