Police record an explosion in e-scooter crashes as one a day are reported in London in 2021 – compared to just nine in the whole of 2018

• Figures show there were 258 collisions in capital in first six months of last year
• By comparison, there were just nine in 2018, rising to 38 in 2019
• As popularity of e-scooters took off, 2020 saw 266 crashes; that figure is likely to be dwarfed by final 2021 total 

Police have seen a huge rise in e-scooter crashes, with at least one a day in London, compared to just nine in the whole of 2018.

Latest figures show there were 258 collisions in the capital in the first six months of last year.

By comparison, there were just nine in 2018, rising to 38 in 2019.

As the popularity of e-scooters took off, 2020 saw 266 crashes. But that figure is likely to be dwarfed by the final 2021 total.

Police have seen a huge rise in e-scooter crashes, with at least one a day in London, compared to just nine in the whole of 2018. Latest figures show there were 258 collisions in the capital in the first six months of last year. (File image)

The figures come after a spate of serious accidents across the country.

Most recently, a pensioner was killed after crashing into parked cars on New Year’s Day in Tameside, Greater Manchester.

Great-grandfather David Ackers lost his balance and collided with two vehicles the day before his 75th birthday, dying at the scene from a suspected bleed on the brain.

Weeks earlier, an inquest heard how a teenager was listening to music on his headphones when he turned off a footpath and hit an oncoming car in Portsmouth. George McGowan, 19, died after suffering a brain injury.

David Ackers, 74, died after he crashed into two parked cars while riding an electric scooter

E-scooters are not allowed on public roads unless they are rented from Government-backed trial schemes available in certain areas.

They were involved in 460 accidents in 2020 in the UK and there were 484 casualties, of whom one died and 128 were badly hurt.

Transport for London has banned private e-scooters on its network after one burst into flames on the Underground at Parsons Green Tube station.

Yesterday, Labour’s London Assembly policing and crime spokesman Unmesh Desai – who obtained the latest figures – said: ‘The use of illegal e-scooters on our roads and pavements is putting Londoners at risk of significant harm, especially the most vulnerable in our communities.’

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