Like magic mushroom spores and vials of human growth hormone, e-scooters occupy a mysterious grey area in UK law, being legal to buy but illegal to use – in public, at least. So, unless you have an exceptionally long driveway, a home filled with palatial corridors or a private airfield, the chances are that if you own an e-scooter you are a criminal.
Yet sales of these illicit micromobility devices are booming. An estimated 1m private e-scooters are now in use on the country’s roads, zipping along bike lanes, weaving in and out of traffic and sometimes terrorising pedestrians on the pavement.
