The number of e-scooters being confiscated in Kent is increasing but the numbers being seized from the streets of each district differ dramatically - with four towns having had fewer than five scooters taken away in almost three years.

Senior reporter Lauren Abbott looks in detail at the number of electric scooters being seized, and from which parts of the county, amid warnings from police to parents who may be considering them as Christmas presents.

While electric scooters have been adopted in many European towns and cities, it remains illegal in the UK to use them on the roads or in other public spaces.

Yet despite such stringent laws, 100-plus e-scooters are seized every year by police in Kent - and in the majority of instances destroyed - as tough punishment for the riders caught using them illegally.

But while the number of scooters being commandeered by the force is on the up - rising from 118 in 2022 to 121 last year and already 138 by the end of September this year - the statistics show huge differences in the numbers taken by officers in each policing district.

Pensioner Malcolm Edward Brooks says he narrowly escaped serious injury on The Leas in Folkestone when he encountered an adult riding a full-sized e-scooter on the pavement earlier this year.

The 79-year-old said to give more room to a gentleman using a mobility scooter he moved less than a foot to one side - unaware that hurtling silently towards him from behind was a man on a scooter.

Able to thankfully maintain his balance, Edward only brushed shoulders with the rider but he says the outcome could have been an awful lot worse.

“If he’d hit me in the middle of the back I wouldn’t be here talking to you now,” he explained.

“These things are fast.”

Mr Brooks - who says he’s a “fit and healthy nearly 80-year-old” - has been calling for a police crackdown along the seafront beauty spot because he says people regularly zooming along on electric scooters are putting those on foot in grave danger.

He says older people walking with sticks or young toddlers, who are more likely to drift into their path, wouldn’t stand a chance against an e-scooter moving at speed.

He said: “The older people move around slowly and you can’t get out of the way quickly.

“It’s a delightful place to walk but it’s scaring people from walking along there. And someone is going to eventually be very badly injured.”

Police insist they patrol the town regularly and stop and speak to e-scooter riders and have urged parents to not let their children use them.

However in Folkestone and Hythe - which The Leas falls under - just two electric scooters have been seized by officers since the beginning of 2022.

Alongside improving signs along The Leas, Mr Brooks thinks it’s time more is done.

“The answer is more police on the roads and streets but let’s be honest, that’s not going to happen. There should have been more (taken by police).

“It’s not the case that people here can’t afford to buy them because these people are out on the roads.

“It’ll be dreadful this summer.”

Tunbridge Wells and Dover join Folkestone and Hythe in having very few cases of e-scooters being seized by officers since January 2022.

Below them is Sevenoaks district with just one.

At the other end of the scale, Maidstone leads the way for the greatest number of e-scooters to have been taken from its streets - with 95 having been confiscated by police in the last two-and-a-half years across the county town.

This includes 30 scooters taken from the town centre in less than two months alone at the start of the year after police officers began making regular checks when concerns were raised over the safety of elderly pedestrians in particular.

In August last year an e-scooter was confiscated by police in Medway after repeated reports of anti-social behaviour in Twydall.

The force said its riders were given “warning after warning” but eventually left the officer with no other option but to take away the e-scooter - which was one of 83 seized in Medway since the start of 2022.

In February this year - as part of its own clampdown on anti-social behaviour - Dartford council announced it was banning e-scooters from pedestrianised areas of the town centre using civil powers contained within a Public Spaces Protection Order.

Anyone caught riding an e-scooter in High Street, Market Place or Lowfield Street, up to the junction with Market Street, it warned, risked a maximum £100 fixed penalty notice.

While Dartford council hasn’t confirmed how many fines it has issued in the last 10 months, 16 e-scooters being ridden illegally have been seized by police in the borough since early 2022 according to the data sent to KentOnline.

It was also in 2022 that a decision was made to end a controversial e-scooter trial in Canterbury.

The pilot scheme launched in the city in November 2020 for an initial 12-month period and was twice extended despite public safety fears and a pedestrian being knocked down.

But Kent County Council then took the decision to reject an offer from the Department for Transport to continue the trial until May 2024.

The politician overseeing the trial at the time - KCC's cabinet member for transport, Cllr David Brazier - says he decided to "truncate it before someone was seriously hurt” after e-scooter users had been caught riding routes not permitted by the official pilot.

Warnings ahead of Christmas

In Parliament at the end of last month an E-scooters (Review and Awareness) Bill was introduced by Labour MP Jessica Morden who is pressing the government to improve public awareness.

Using a Ten Minute Rule motion, she told MPs: “The landscape on our roads has changed dramatically over recent years. The use of e-scooters has exploded, and it was estimated last year that e-scooter ownership is now close to one million in England alone.

“But legislation has just not kept up with this trend – our legislation is years behind other countries.

“The Bill is about asking the government to address this quickly – and I know there have been positive moves about this – and also, as we approach Christmas, when many people may be tempted to buy them as presents, to remind potential buyers of the law.”

Despite limitations on where e-scooters can be ridden, they remain easy to buy with high street retailer Halfords having more than eight models for sale in the days surrounding Black Friday.

Superintendent Pete Steenhuis of Kent Police said while they remained popular Christmas presents it was important those keen to buy them understood the rules.

He said: “E-scooters are likely to be popular again this Christmas but it is important gift-buyers understand that they cannot legally be ridden on public roads and pathways in Kent, and that doing so may constitute a criminal offence and result in a fine.

“We have a responsibility to keep people safe and regularly engage with individuals on the street and in schools to provide advice, many of whom are unaware of the law.

“We have also run operations in parts of the county where particular concerns have been raised about their use and the risk they can pose, particularly to elderly and vulnerable pedestrians.

”They also have the option to seize the e-scooter as a last resort…”

“When an officer comes across an e-scooter being used incorrectly, they first seek to educate the rider and encourage them to adhere to the legislation.

”They also have the option to seize the e-scooter as a last resort, for example if the rider refuses to follow advice or is seen using the vehicle in a dangerous or antisocial manner.”