E-scooters are not a novelty on UK streets; their use has risen dramatically over the last few years. Yet the regulatory framework governing them remains incomplete. This affects insurers, particularly through rising uninsured claims, growing Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) exposure and personal injury losses.
While government attention has focused largely on extending rental trials, the growth of unregulated privately owned e-scooters has created a substantial and largely unmanaged risk environment.
At present, e-scooters are classified in law as motor vehicles. Although legislation introduced in 2020 enabled government-approved rental e-scooter trials, privately owned e-scooters cannot meet the statutory requirements for road use and are therefore illegal on roads, pavements and other public places. Because of this illegality, privately owned e-scooters are also uninsurable.
The consequence is clear but often poorly understood. When a privately owned e-scooter causes injury to a third party, responsibility for compensation ultimately falls to the MIB under the Uninsured Drivers Agreement. This places e-scooter risk squarely within the collective financial responsibility of the motor insurance market, despite insurers having no ability to underwrite, price or control that risk.
Widespread use, rising harm
The true number of privately owned e-scooters in the UK is unknown, but estimates suggest there are over one million in circulation. Given their illegality, even this figure may be materially inaccurate. What is clear, however, is that casualties are rising.
In 2024, 1,339 casualties involving e-scooters were recorded. Of these, 32% resulted in serious injuries and six fatalities were reported. Year on year, since data collection began last decade, the statistics have consistently worsened. Independent analysis by the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety has identified 59 deaths involving e-scooters since 2019, with victims ranging in age from nine to 74.
Claims inflation
The Financial Conduct Authority’s most recent motor insurance claims analysis estimates that the increased use of e-scooters and ebikes is generating about £50m a year in bodily injury costs caused by uninsured riders. These costs ultimately feed into industry-wide levies and contribute to broader claims inflation.
The MIB has reported a sustained rise in e-scooter-related personal injury claims for over seven years. It now receives about three new claims a week arising from these incidents. Many involve pedestrians, who are particularly vulnerable and typically blameless. Such claims are frequently substantial and complex, involving long rehabilitation periods and disputed liability.
Insurers should also be alert to non-injury exposures, particularly property damage. Where property damage is caused by an illegal and untraced e-scooter rider, insured parties may look to their own insurers for indemnity. Recovery options are usually non-existent, adding further unrecoverable costs to motor and household books.
Additionally, there have been numerous reports of fires caused by e-scooter lithium-ion batteries that have caused property damage and, in a few cases, deaths.
The lack of public understanding of the legal landscape underpins the problems faced. Many riders do not appreciate the legal distinction between rental and private e-scooters. The visibility of legal trials risks reinforcing a false sense of legitimacy around private use. The situation is made worse by the fact that anyone can buy an e-scooter online or at any number of high street locations. Shops that sell e-scooters are required to inform buyers that they are for use on private land only, but the message is rarely clear enough.
The idea of legislating to legalise public use of private e-scooters has been in the works for several years. In early 2023, Baroness Vere, then transport under-secretary, told the Lords that when parliamentary time allowed, the Department for Transport (DfT) would reclassify e-scooters as low-speed zero-emission vehicles, independent of cycle and motor vehicle categorisation. This never happened. Former transport secretary Louise Haigh also suggested that she would change e-scooter classification to legalise their use in public, but resigned before she did so. It appears that, based on comments earlier this year from current transport secretary Heidi Alexander, e-scooters are back on the DfT’s radar.
We do not yet know the specifics of what legalised use will look like. But there are indications that e-scooters will be barred from using pavements and will face tougher speed limits and safety requirements, including mandatory lights and working brakes. These seem to be the bare minimum of requirements. There has been no mention of licence plates or mandatory helmet use, or of insurance.
Most European countries have already legalised public use of e-scooters. Requirements vary greatly, though many of the countries that started with looser requirements have been tightening them, including Ireland, which now intends to make wearing helmets and hi-vis vests mandatory. Third-party insurance is mandatory in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
The government plans to consult later this year on proposed regulations.
The continued illegality of privately owned e‑scooters has pushed rising damages costs onto the wider motor insurance market via the MIB. Casualty trends, claims inflation and battery‑related property damage indicate a risk profile that is already significant and worsening.
Without clear, enforceable regulation, safety standards and compulsory third‑party insurance, these costs will continue to rise. The challenge for government will be to design a framework that recognises e‑scooters as a permanent part of the transport mix while ensuring that the risks they create are transparent, insurable and fairly allocated.
Michael McCabe is a member of the Forum of Insurance Lawyers and a solicitor in the strategic advisory team at DAC Beachcroft
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