Published: Tuesday 11 November 2025
A thousand rental e-bikes have been seized by Council street enforcement officers after a crackdown in the borough. The action comes as a response to complaints from fed up residents reporting the bikes as trip hazards and highways obstructions.
Since January, we have been taking dangerously parked rental e-bikes from Lime, Bolt, Forest and Voi off the streets and placing them in storage.
To have the bikes released, the providers are paying one off seizure fee, plus a daily storage fee if the bikes are not collected within 14 days. So far the Council has collected more than £81,000 in charges to the providers. The income is being used to increase the enforcement.
Cllr Johnny Thalassites, lead member for planning and environment, said:
“Our residents are sick of rental e-bikes being left obstructing roads and pavements. We had no choice but to take tough action and our team has seized 1,000 dangerously parked bikes. It is making a difference with operators working with us to clear overflowing bays more regularly and posting their staff in hot spots.
“E-bikes have boomed and they are a convenient way for people to get around, but legislation is lagging behind. Long term, we need a solution from Government about how the demand and operations are managed by the providers.”
Tracking down dangerously parked e-bikes
The enforcement team is made up of Council street enforcement officers and has been bolstered since July with additional resources from the Council’s contract with Kingdom’s local authority support service.
Officers are notified via reports from residents, or by patrols in the streets of the borough, particularly in hotspot areas, such as around Harrods. You can report an issue on our streets online.
Bikes are removed in accordance with the Highways Act. There are 246 rental e-bike parking bays in Kensington and Chelsea, with an estimated 3,000 bays across London.
Where bikes are outside a bay, but not causing an obstruction, enforcement officers report the bikes to the operators, who have to move them within two to six hours or face more bikes being seized.