Scourge of the illegally modified 70mph monster e-bikes causing death on our roads

Published: 01:01, 11 May 2026 | Updated: 01:01, 11 May 2026 Amazon delivery man Babak Fordaliah, 34, sits on the floor, head in hands, after being busted for driving an illegal and potentially dangerous electric bicycle. The e-bike, which has a motor that should cut out when it reaches 15.5mph, has been doctored and can now go much faster – just like tens of thousands of others causing mayhem on Britain’s roads. ‘This could easily reach 30mph, maybe 40mph,’ says PC Sibyl Beaumont, from the City of London Police’s Cycle Team, who has flagged down Mr Fordaliah outside Liverpool Street Station in London. ‘The fastest one I ever seized was capable of doing 73mph. ‘People are buying legal e-bikes and then adapting them to be more powerful and go faster. Then they’ve got this Frankenstein’s monster of a motorbike with no number plate and without having taken a motorcycle test, bought insurance, paid road tax or often even worn a helmet.’ And it isn’t just on our roads that illegal e-bikes are a menace. Fire brigades up and down the country have reported hundreds of fires and about a dozen deaths caused by cheap imported batteries bursting into flames while they are charging. ‘These are illegal, unregistered, untaxed monster bikes without MOTs,’ says MP Julie Minns, who wants to ban their sale and supply. ‘These bikes have become a menace… in communities across Britain. Their speed and lack of traceability make them the perfect accessory in robbery, phone theft and drug dealing.’ An e-bike is a pedal-operated bicycle fitted with an electric motor and rechargeable lithium-ion battery. They are designed to give riders a helping hand when going uphill, making journeys easier. When a bike meets these criteria, the official name for it in regulations dating back to 1983 is an ‘electrically assisted pedal cycle’ or EAPC. However, to remain legally classed as a bicycle – not requiring insurance, road tax or a licence – EAPC motors must have a continuous output of no more than 250 watts and must cut out at 15.5mph. E-bike motors must also kick in only when the rider pushes the pedals, so twist-handled throttles are not allowed. Amazon delivery man Babak Fordaliah, 34, sits on the floor, head in hands, after being busted for driving an illegal and potentially dangerous electric bicycle Nobody knows for sure how many there are on the UK’s roads and because they are relatively new on the scene in large numbers, there are no nationally collated records for e-bike crimes and accidents. However, anecdotally, police forces all over the country say they have noticed a significant increase in their use during phone-snatches, robberies and road traffic offences. Where they are found and stopped by police, illegal e-bikes can be confiscated and destroyed. During the last financial year, City of London Police seized 351, compared with 326 the year before. Merseyside Police reported a 181 per cent increase in confiscations in 2025 compared with the year before. Suffolk Police say seizures in their area have increased six-fold during the same period, from 12 to 72. The Metropolitan Police has taken and destroyed more than 2,700 this year and last. Like many delivery drivers, Mr Fordaliah chose the e-bike option when he, his wife and 14-year-old son came to join family in Britain from their native Iran eight months ago. He landed jobs as an Amazon delivery man and an Uber taxi driver. Then he spent £1,499 on a G-Force DE-S cargo e-bike. Unlike many of the e-bike riders whooshing past us, he is wearing a safety helmet. On the G-Force website, the specifications boast that the e-bike’s motor has a 1,300 watt output, when 250 watts is the legal limit. It also says the bike has a ‘half-twist throttle’. When I asked the company to explain the apparent breach of power output, it said that the figure on its website was an error and the output was 250 watts. ‘We are in the process of rectifying this to avoid any misunderstandings in the future,’ it added. However, it is the way the bike has been modified, with a box on its frame that arouses suspicions. When PC Beaumont opens it, she finds a snake pit of multi-coloured wires designed, she says, to override the e-bike motor’s 15.5mph cut-out function. ‘That is so illegal!’ she exclaims. Her colleague PC Matty Orlowski issues Mr Fordaliah with a £300 fixed penalty notice. He will also get six points on his driving licence. PC Beaumont says that of 677 e-bike seizures in the City of London in the past two years, only a few dozen owners had challenged their case in court, arguing their e-bike wasn’t illegal. ‘We didn’t lose a single case,’ she says. After watching his e-bike being taken away for destruction, Mr Fordaliah is distraught. Through a police interpreter and his smartphone translation function, he claims the e-bike was checked and cleared by Amazon staff that morning before he began his delivery route. He says all its delivery e-bikes are checked. The power watt of the confiscated e-bike is listed as 1,000 watts, when the legal limit in the UK is 250 watts Police officers Sibyl Beaumont and Matty Orlowski with just a small number of the illegal e-bikes they have taken off London roads Amazon told me: ‘We take compliance with e-bike safety regulations seriously. We’re aware of this incident and are investigating. All delivery partners are required to ensure that e-bikes meet UK legal and safety standards, including speed limits and power output limits.’ The City of London Police’s cycle team is seizing an average of one illegal e-bike per day. They include an ordinary bicycle which has been turned into an e-bike using a ‘conversion kit’ – a hub and motor on the rear wheel, a mounted lithium battery and a twist-and-go throttle for a handle. A plate on the motor says it has an output of 1,000 watts, meaning it could probably reach 40mph. ‘These can be very dangerous because the bikes themselves aren’t designed for such speed,’ PC Beaumont says. ‘And there have been some alarming issues with batteries.’ These involve batteries from kits sourced online which have burst into flames, usually while charging. In London alone, there were 171 fires involving e-bikes last year, compared with 13 in 2020. There are no official national figures available, but about a dozen people are believed to have died in fires associated with e-bikes – six in the capital. So concerned was London Fire Brigade that it set up the #ChargeSafe campaign in 2023 to raise awareness of the dangers of sub-standard e-bike batteries. It says that 40 per cent of e-bike fires are down to faulty batteries on conversions. Spencer Sutcliff, the brigade’s deputy commissioner, says: ‘Firefighters are currently attending an e-bike or e-scooter fire every other day, on average. Already in 2026, we have seen several fires involving lithium-ion batteries.’ Conversion kits which turn regular pushbikes into e-bikes are available on the internet, including on Amazon. I found a kit on sale for £265. It boasted a top speed of 70kmph and a maximum output of 2,000 watts. I asked the Chinese manufacturer if it was aware bikes converted using its kits in the UK would be illegal and if it would stop selling them. They said it was speed-limited so as not to exceed the legal limit. When I directed Amazon to the kit, it quickly removed it from sale, adding: ‘All products listed in our store must comply with UK laws and regulations and we monitor for product safety concerns.’ While riding doctored and converted e-bikes on public roads is illegal, selling, marketing and supplying them is not. Ms Minns, Labour MP for Carlisle, is working to change that. In January, she introduced the Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycles Bill which, if passed by Parliament, would ban the sale of illegal e-bikes. ‘These are illegal vehicles that can, and do, kill,’ she told the House of Commons. ‘Last summer, in Greater Manchester, a 70-year-old woman was left in a coma and with life-changing injuries after being hit by an e-bike advertised with a top speed of 47mph and, in 2024, an 86-year-old man from Lancashire was hit and killed by an illegal e-bike. We cannot continue to let this happen.’ It seems Ms Minns has caught the Government’s ear. The Department for Business has published three consultation papers aimed at updating product safety rules. They close in June and legislation is expected to follow shortly afterwards. PCs Beaumont and Orlowski say the majority of illegal e-bikes seized are from couriers delivering food or goods. Deliveroo drivers top the list – not because they are any worse than other riders, but because theirs is the biggest company and there are more of them. Deliveroo says: ‘Using a legal vehicle is a clear condition of a rider’s supplier agreement. If any rider is found to be using an illegally modified e-bike, we will stop working with them immediately.’ As the numbers of illegal e-bikes on our roads continue to climb at an alarming rate, safety campaigners are determined to put the brakes on their sale. Meanwhile, outside Liverpool Street Station during morning rush hour, I see dozens of e-bikes whizzing by – some suspiciously faster than others. The comments below have been moderated in advance. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. 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