Central London e-bike hire crackdown sees thousands of fines issued for bad parking

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Thousands more fines have been issued over badly parked e-bikes in central London.

Westminster City Council issued more than 5,000 Fixed Penalty Notices to operators since the start of the 2026-27 financial year, while only 1,259 were handed out during the previous year.

At the current rate, the council could issue almost 10,000 (9,648) bike FPNs by the end of the year– a potential seven-fold increase in issued fines.

There are roughly 20 hotspots for irresponsible dockless bike parking in the area, with many situated in the West End and St James’s wards, a Westminster City Council sub-committee heard.

Cabinet Member for Enforcement, Caroline Sargent, said: “Sometimes hundreds of bikes are really seriously blocking the road, going into the road. So that is where the main seizure action is taking place, but the enforcement action is taking place in every ward.

“The issuing of FPNs is taking place everywhere. And there have been seizures that have taken place outside of those 20 hotspots too, but that is where most of it has been focused to date.”

Just over £300,000 in FPNs and seizure costs has been levied against dockless bike operators. Over 1,000 dockless bikes have been seized this year, in cases where obstruction and safety issues are causing the most concern.

However the Tory-led dockless bike crackdown has been on the receiving end of some scrutiny by the opposition Labour group for the number of bike seizures.

Leader of the Opposition, Councillor Ellie Ormsby, said: “This equates to around six bikes a day. In a city like Westminster, where e-bikes are so prevalent, this barely scratches the surface.”

Cllr Sargent said that every Westminster City Council inspector had been trained up on issuing FPNs. The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands that there are two inspectors who cover bike seizures specifically.

The council said that it recognises that it needs more parking bays to account for the increased demand of dockless bikes and to compensate for the “problematic bays” which it has removed.

Westminster City Council has been working with major operators to find ways to share data and improve the removal of carelessly parked dockless bikes. This included better real-time information on the number and location of bikes across Westminster.

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A Policy and Scrutiny Cabinet Member Update reads: “Officers are also currently working on revised versions of our binding Collaboration Agreements which will require greater data-sharing requirements and transparency from the operators, improved clarity on operating requirements, while also imposing stronger penalties where they fail to work with us in keeping our streets clear and safe.”