London police expand e-motorbike fleet in push against phone snatchers
The Metropolitan Police has grown its fleet of high-powered electric motorbikes from five to 25 as it steps up the chase against phone snatchers and
The Metropolitan Police has grown its fleet of high-powered electric motorbikes from five to 25 as it steps up the chase against phone snatchers and moped gangs across London. The lightweight bikes are already on patrol in central and inner districts, where officers say they can move through traffic and tight streets that often trap police cars.
The force says the bikes help officers cut through congestion, slip into narrow alleyways and even ride up staircases when suspects flee into places standard vehicles cannot follow. One senior officer described the expansion as a “powerful tool” in keeping pace with criminals on the move.
Fast wheels, narrow streets
The new fleet uses Sur-Ron electric bikes, which the company calls “the original e-bike.” The Met says it has deployed them across Westminster, Camden, Islington, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Kensington & Chelsea, and Hammersmith & Fulham.
That matters because phone theft in London often plays out in seconds. A rider snatches a handset, darts through traffic, and disappears down a side street before a patrol car can turn around. The Met’s answer is speed, agility and access.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Louise Puddefoot said the expanded fleet was a “powerful tool to stay one step ahead of criminals.” The bikes, she said, are part of “targeted tactics” that have already helped drive down phone thefts by more than 13,000 offences across the capital over the past year.
Money from criminals, training from government
The expansion was paid for with money seized from criminal assets, along with Home Office funding for specialist rider training in London’s West End. That mix of recovered cash and public funding gives the unit more reach without relying only on traditional patrols.
London police have increasingly leaned on smaller, faster and more flexible tools to confront street crime. In this case, the e-bikes are being used as an answer to offenders who know the city’s back streets well and often try to exploit traffic choke points to get away.
For PC Sever Ali and PC Mo Choudhury, who were trying to force their response car through heavy London traffic, the switch to e-bikes offers something far simpler: a way to keep going when the road disappears. Footage released by the Met showed officers pursuing a moped rider through traffic and into a housing estate, then weaving through residential streets to stay on the suspect’s tail.
The force says the bikes are now part of routine policing in the areas most affected by street theft. And for London’s phone snatchers, the margin for escape just got a little smaller.
