POLICE have seized more than ten electric scooters, motorbikes and e-bikes in response to a rise in crime and antisocial behaviour.
Officers have been carrying out “enhanced patrols” along the Bristol & Bath Railway Path following a stabbing, a mugging and a rise in complaints about illegal use of e-scooters and modified e-bikes.
Patrols have involved neighbourhood policing teams, mounted officers and specialist bike units, with support from South Gloucestershire Council’s community safety team.
As well as high-visibility patrols, the force has also carried out “targeted enforcement operations” involving plain-clothes officers.
Away from the path, police have also been targeting illegal e-bike and scooter use in Mangotsfield, Frenchay and Emersons Green – seizing one e-bike that had a top speed of 62mph.
An Avon & Somerset police spokesperson said that in the first two weeks of September, officers seized six e-scooters being used illegally on the Staple Hill, Mangotsfield and Emersons Green stretches of the Bristol & Bath Railway Path, another in Mangotsfield and and two in Frenchay.
An e-bike which had been illegally modified was seized in Mangotsfield and a Sur-Ron off-road e-motorbike was seized in Emersons Green – a total of 11 vehicles being used illegally.
All of them will now be destroyed.
It is illegal to ride privately-owned e-scooters on public roads and paths. Illegally-modified e-bikes are those that can go above the legal speed limit of 15.5mph, have a battery of more than 250w or are capable of being ridden using a throttle instead of pedals.
The e-bike being ridden in Mangotsfield on September 7, which was being ridden by a teenager wearing a balaclava, had been modified to travel at up to 62mph. The e-scooter seized the same day could travel at up to 31mph.
Police say many of the riders they have stopped have never passed a driving test, have no training and are riding on roads, pavements and green spaces as well as the cycle path.
Neighbourhood Inspector Barny Mabbett said “a significant number of officers and staff” were involved, adding: “The operation has generated considerable community engagement, with officers speaking to path users, local businesses, and residents to provide reassurance and gather information and intelligence relating to concerns on the path.”
Insp Mabbett said patrols would continue “for the foreseeable future” to reduce anti-social behaviour, tackle the unlawful e-scooter and e-bike use, and make the railway path safer for “legitimate users”.
Police launched patrols after two incidents in two days on the path.
On August 11 a man in his 30s was stabbed on the railway path at Bitton, suffering what police described as “non-life-threatening injuries”. Two boys were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and later released on police bail.
The following day a boy in his late teens suffered what police described as “minor physical injuries” when he was mugged by eight masked youths on a stretch of the path close to the former Mangotsfield station. The boy had a grey Carrera Crossfire 2 bike taken from him by the group, who were described as being in their late teens or early 20s.
Police said the attackers were wearing black face coverings and bucket hats, and black jogging bottoms and jackets. Four of the suspects were white, one was black, one was Asian and one was of mixed race. One was riding a black e-scooter with red markings and a screen, and others had e-bikes or road bikes.
Anyone with information about the mugging should call 101 and quote the crime reference number 5226 227 034; the reference number for the stabbing is 5226 226 130.
South Glos Council is installing 20 permanent CCTV cameras on the path between Staple Hill Tunnel and Mangotsfield Station.
• Police are trying to trace a man who assaulted a teenage boy on an e-scooter who collided with a woman “at low speed” on Emersons Green Lane, near the junction with Guest Avenue, at around 12.35pm on August 14. The boy suffered minor injuries, while the woman was unharmed.
The suspect was white, in his mid-30s, with brown, curly shoulder length hair, and was wearing a dark baseball cap, a navy-blue T-shirt, khaki shorts, sunglasses and orange shoes. Anyone with information should call 101 and quote the crime reference number 5226 228 878.