Fires caused by electronic scooters have trebled in the last year, sparking a warning from Kent's Police and Crime Commissioner.

PCC Matthew Scott unearthed the stark data and is now urging people not to buy e scooters, which he says "aren’t just unsafe on our roads...are causing danger in people’s properties too".

He approached fire services across England and Wales to ask how many blazes caused by the vehicles they had attended across the last two years.

The 33 services that responded revealed they attended 95 e scooter fires last year – up from 33 in 2020.

Mr Scott, who is also a member of the Kent Fire and Rescue Authority, is calling for the government to ban the sale of e scooters and warning people against using them.

It is illegal to use e scooters in public places, unless they are hired as part of government-approved trials such as the one currently being run in Canterbury.

But recent years have seen a spike in e scooter ownership.

Mr Scott said: “E scooters aren’t just unsafe on our roads, they are causing danger in people’s properties too.

"This is why we need urgent action from the government to stop the sale of private e scooters.

"They are placing extra demands on our fire and rescue services to attend incidents where they are catching fire and doing damage to people’s homes.

"They are also diverting the police away from crime and antisocial behaviour, because more enforcement is required to keep our roads safe.

“Remember – privately owned e scooters are not legal on our roads. Kent Police and other forces are being proactive in seizing them.

"Don’t put yourself in harm’s way. Don’t waste the money. Don’t buy e scooters.”

The issue was also raised in the House of Lords yesterday March 3 morning, when Lord Berkeley asked Lord Callanan (the Under-Secretary of State for the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) why pro-active checks were not made on the imported cheap lithium batteries used by many e scooters, as happens in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.

He said: “One manufacturer told me, and I quote, ‘Unless we can prove that a product has caused serious accidental injuries, there is no priority for trading standards to do any pro-active checks.’ But is the answer not to do pro-active checks and stop these illegal imports causing fires?”

Lord Callanan responded that safety checks on imported products are vital and that checks are carried out on a risk-based approach where required.

He added that the Department of Transport continues to review the use and regulation of electronic scooters.

Mr Scott's Freedom of Information inquiry found that while there was just one e scooter fire recorded in Kent in each year, London Fire Service recorded 28 such blazes in 2021 – double the number from the year before.

In Surrey, fire crews were called out 10 times compared to five the year before, while in South Wales, there were six cases last year, compared to one in 2020.

Some fire crews were also called out after e scooters were deliberately set on fire by arsonists.