Cost of storing E-scooters

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.21.022040

I note you seek access to the following information:

How many e-scooters the Met police currently has in storage (e.g. following confiscation)
How much e-scooter storage has cost the force over the past year
How much the force expects to spend on e-scooter storage in the next financial year
How many e-scooters have been destroyed by the force (or contractors), and the cost of this over the past year.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

Data Caveats:
1. In vehicle recovery we generally either seize a vehicle or remove it. These are two (2) terms used in legislation detailing vehicle recovery. Nearly all of the e-Scooters that we recover will have been seized under section 165A of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (no insurance or driven otherwise than in accordance with a licence). However, there are other e-Scooters that have either been seized, removed or both under other legislation. The term “confiscated” although not immediately relevant to vehicle recovery, does have a definition of “to seize or take with authority”. In light of this the subject expert has classified all seized and removed vehicles as falling into this definition and we provide the following response on that basis.

• These figures are specific to vehicles recovered to one of the two MPS car pounds.

• This response relies on data taken from the MPS car pound computer system called ELVIS (Easy Link Vehicle Information System). This is a live system and as such records are subject to review and change. Therefore data analysis over time can produce different results.

Q1 - How many e-Scooters the Met police currently has in storage (e.g. following confiscation).

As of the 29 November 2021, there were 95 e-Scooters held at the MPS car pounds. Please note that the may be other e-Scooters seized and stored across the MPS that have not held at one of the two MPS car pounds.

Q2 - How much e-Scooter storage has cost the force over the past year.

The MPS does not hold the cost of e-Scooter storage over the most recent calendar year. In this regard, the MPS is unable to accurately attribute a proportion of the property rent, electricity, staff / officer time, equipment and other miscellaneous costs attributable to the cost of e-Scooter storage. The requested information cannot accordingly be provided to you, as it is not held by the MPS.

The MPS does however hold the cost of e-Scooter storage at one of the two MPS car pounds where the e-scooters are unclaimed. From the 1 January 2021 to the 29 November 2021, the MPS has incurred a direct cost of £380,740.00 for the storage of e-Scooters. This figure does not represent the overall cost of e-scooter storage which is not held by the MPS.

Q3 - How much the force expects to spend on e-Scooter storage in the next financial year.

The MPS do not hold any information relating to forecasted e-Scooter specific costs and are therefore unable to provide this information as it is not held by the MPS.

Q4 - How many e-scooters have been destroyed by the force (or contractors), and the cost of this over the past year.

From the 1 January 2021 to the 29 November 2021, there were 1842 e-Scooters sent for disposal. It should be noted that at present, the cost of disposing of e-Scooters, which are all destroyed, is effectively equal to the value of any of the component parts – the process of disposal is therefore cost neutral. There is as such, no direct cost associated with their disposal to the MPS.