Communities across England are reaching breaking point over gangs of illegal e-motorbike riders who are turning residential streets into their own personal racetracks, with locals saying the situation has become genuinely dangerous.
Residents have described watching groups of riders regularly tear through neighbourhoods at speed, ignoring traffic laws and putting pedestrians, cyclists and drivers at serious risk. Many say the problem has been going on long enough that they no longer feel safe in their own streets.
“It is terrifying,” one resident said. “You hear them coming before you see them, and by the time you do, they are already gone. But if someone steps out at the wrong moment, it could be catastrophic.”
The e-motorbikes at the centre of the problem are illegal to ride on public roads in England without proper registration, insurance and a valid licence. Many of the bikes being used by these groups have none of that. They are often unregistered, meaning police have a harder time tracking down riders even when incidents are reported.
Locals have been raising the alarm with police and local councils, but many feel their concerns are being brushed aside or that not enough is being done to deal with the problem consistently. Some residents have started filming the riders themselves in the hope that footage will push authorities into action.
The frustration is not just about noise or antisocial behaviour, though that is bad enough. People are genuinely scared someone is going to get seriously hurt. Near misses have already been reported in several areas, with riders mounting pavements, cutting through parks and weaving between moving traffic at high speed.
For families with young children, elderly residents and anyone who relies on getting around on foot, the anxiety is constant. Some say they have changed their routines to avoid certain streets at certain times of day, which feels deeply unfair given they are the ones following the rules.
Police in England do have powers to seize illegal bikes, and there have been operations in various areas targeting exactly this kind of riding. But enforcement is patchy, and riders who know their local streets well can be difficult to chase safely. There are strict guidelines around police pursuits involving bikes and mopeds, designed to prevent accidents, which some officers say limits what they can do in the moment.
Councils have been urged to look at physical measures that might help, such as barriers or restricted access points in areas that are being used as informal racetracks. But these solutions take time and money, and residents dealing with the problem right now want faster answers.
Campaigners and community groups have also pointed to the broader issue of how e-bikes and e-motorbikes are regulated in the UK. The rules around electric-powered vehicles have struggled to keep pace with how quickly the technology has become cheap and widely available. Bikes that would have been expensive a few years ago can now be picked up for a few hundred pounds, making it easy for people to get hold of them without going through any of the legal channels that would apply to a traditional motorbike.
There are calls for the government to tighten up regulations and make it harder to sell or import bikes that do not meet road legal standards. Some want retailers to face tougher checks on what they are selling and to whom.
For now though, the people living with this problem on a daily basis just want it to stop. They want to feel safe walking to the shops, letting their kids play outside and going about their lives without the constant roar of illegal bikes and the fear that one day the luck will run out and someone will be seriously injured.
Authorities across England are being urged to treat this as the urgent public safety issue it is, rather than a minor nuisance that can be dealt with slowly. The message from residents is simple: this cannot wait.