London borough approves new powers to remove dangerously parked e-bikes

Full council agreed to adopt additional powers under section 149 of the Highways Act 1980 on Tuesday (13 October), allowing officers to immediately remove e-bikes from roads and pavements where they pose a danger to the public.

The decision follows concerns about obstructively parked e-bikes and comes amid an ongoing disagreement with operator Voi, which has continued operating in the borough despite failing to agree a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the council.

Ealing previously adopted an enforcement policy allowing it to issue fixed penalty notices (FPNs) in relation to improperly parked bikes belonging to both permitted and unpermitted operators.

However, officers recommended strengthening the policy to allow the council to remove bikes posing a danger to the public, alongside introducing a charging scheme to recover the costs of removal and storage.

Under the new approach, immediate removal will only be permitted where a bike presents a danger requiring urgent action. Bikes considered a nuisance but not an immediate danger will still require notice and, where necessary, a court order before they can be removed.

An officer's report stressed that bikes cannot be considered a nuisance or danger simply because they are parked outside a designated bay or belong to an operator without an agreement with the council.

It said: "Each bike or group of bikes must be assessed objectively by an authorised officer based on its location, condition and effect."

Full council ultimately voted to delegate authority to the council's Assistant Director of Environment and Community Protection to exercise the powers and approve a schedule of charges.

Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Dominic Moffitt, the cabinet member for climate action, said the council supported micromobility and sustainable transport but needed stronger powers to address dangerous parking.

He said: "Too many people have to live with bikes in the wrong place and have had to do so for too long.”

He added: "Where bikes are a danger, we need to get them off our streets. And this report begins the process of giving Ealing Council the power to take them off the road straight away."

He said that the charging scheme was intended to ensure operators covered the costs of removing and storing bikes, rather than to punish them.

Responding to opposition councillors who questioned why the council had not reached an MoU with Voi, Cllr Moffitt said allowing another operator into the borough would increase the number of bikes on its streets.

"That is fundamentally why there are more bikes than we would want because Voi are refusing to leave the borough when we have asked them to," he said.

"And we will continue to ask them to and we will continue to take the powers we require to get those bikes off the street."

Voi has previously highlighted that there is no statutory licensing regime that requires a council's permission to operate dockless e-bikes on the public highway.

In September, it said it did not believe that Ealing’s past selection process gave the council grounds to exclude it.

The firm has also said it remained open to resolving the disagreement constructively, “but have written to the council three times with detailed concerns about this process that have not been acknowledged.

“In the absence of a formal agreement, we will operate in Ealing in accordance with the borough’s own e-bike enforcement procedure,” their statement added.  

The officer's report said the strengthened enforcement policy would help protect the council against obstructive activity by operators without an agreement, while reinforcing parking requirements imposed on permitted operators.

The council will monitor the number of bikes removed, fees recovered and changes in complaints from residents as part of a review of the policy.

The decision comes as Ealing, Transport for London and other London boroughs work towards a pan-London contract to regulate micromobility services, including e-bikes and e-scooters.

The primary legislation that will support this shift is the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026, which received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026.

Adam Carey