Nearly 100 e-scooter users stopped in London one week Published duration 26 July 2019

image copyright Tom Edwards image caption Police stopped e-scooter riders in Islington

Nearly 100 electric scooter users were stopped in London this week as police crack down on the vehicles.

Ten people were fined and had their scooters confiscated due to aggravating factors such as speeding or ignoring a red light.

It comes shortly after a woman died and a boy was left seriously injured while riding their scooters.

E-scooters can only be used on private roads. One user described the laws as "overzealous".

YouTube star Emily Hartridge, 35, was the first e-scooter rider to be killed in the UK, in a crash with a lorry in south London on 12 July.

image copyright Empics image caption Emily Hartridge is believed to be the first person to die in an accident involving an electric scooter in the UK

A 14-year-old was taken to hospital in critical condition after his scooter crashed into a bus stop on Monks Orchard Road, Beckenham, a day later.

Chief Supt Colin Wingrove, head of roads and transport policing at the Metropolitan Police, said it is important the "public are fully aware of the risks associated with the use of e-scooters."

He issued three warnings to drivers at a junction in Islington on Friday morning as he warned the scooters were "not designed or tested" for that use.

The scooters cannot be ridden on pavements, under the provisions of Highway Act 1835. The Department for Transport (DfT) says it is an offence to use them on roads as they do not comply with motorised vehicle requirements such as insurance, tax and driver testing.

This policy could be changed, as the DfT is carrying out a review of legislation to accommodate changes in the way people and goods move.

One of the riders who was stopped, named as Francisco, described the laws regarding their use as "overzealous" because the majority of e-scooters were "equivalent in terms of safety to a bicycle".