16 illegal vehicles seized following operation in Chester city centre

Officers conducting modern day slavery checks within the city centre have seized 16 illegally converted electrical vehicles.

On Tuesday 2nd September, officers in Chester conducted an operation across the city centre relating to the use of illegal electronically assisted pedal cycles and e-scooters.

Assisted by colleagues from Chester Local Policing Unit’s Beat Management team and officers from the Roads and Crime Unit, the team used both off-road and road vehicles to identify the illegal vehicles, those that had been illegally adapted and id not comply to current UK EAPC legislation.

A total of 16 vehicles, a mixture of bikes and scooters, were removed from the roads by officers, being permanently seized under the roads traffic act.

The police presence was impactive with members of the public engaging with officers and discussing how these issues are being tackled in the city centre.

Detective Sergeant Paul Huxley said:

“We know the nuisance that these anti-social riders and their bikes cause for residents across our city centre and we have spoken to lots of members of the public who were happy to see officers out and about proactively tackling this issue.

“Not only are these riders disrupting residents in our city centre and towns, but their dangerous driving on roads and pavements is also posing a risk to other road users and themselves.

“From what we have previously seen, the dangerous riding of motorised and illegally-converted e-vehicles is often linked to other forms of crime including that of drug supply and wider anti-social behaviour, which is why we conduct operations such as this to show that we take a zero-tolerance approach to anyone who feels they can use the roads as they please.”