Overview
- Officers seized 16 e-bikes at Cambridge Circus in the West End on December 5, with one person arrested after being identified as wanted for a sexual offence.
- The Met says it has taken more than 2,500 illegal e-bikes and e-scooters off the roads in the past year and intends to clear thousands more.
- Phase 2 expands live facial recognition across boroughs and the force credits the technology with more than 1,000 arrests since 2024.
- New pursuit tools include high-speed Sur-ron police e-bikes, interceptor teams in unmarked SUVs, and the planned deployment of first-responder drones.
- Many seized machines were used by delivery riders and confiscated bikes are being crushed, while the Equality and Human Rights Commission has criticised the Met’s live facial recognition policy as lacking adequate safeguards.