PRIVATE owners are being warned they risk losing their e-scooters permanently if they are caught riding them in public.
Police have taken to Facebook to announce that anyone caught flouting the law a second time will have their scooter seized.
A spokesperson for Minehead and West Somerset Neighbourhood Policing said: "This week we have had to give warnings to people using private e-scooters on the public highway.
"We want to take a moment to remind you that privately owned e-scooters must not be used anywhere in public.
"Warnings are being recorded on a database and anybody who is stopped on a second occasion could face having their scooter seized.
"If this happens you will not be able to have it returned."
e-scooters are defined as 'powered transporters' and the law says it is illegal to use them:
- on a public road without complying with a number of legal requirements, which potential users will find very difficult;
- in spaces that are set aside for use by pedestrians, cyclists, and horse-riders; this includes on the pavement and in cycle lanes.
The exceptional is for use on a public road of e-scooters in an official trial, such as in Minehead.
Any person who uses a powered transporter on a public road or other prohibited space in breach of the law is committing a criminal offence and can be prosecuted.
It is legal to use a powered transporter on private land with the permission of the land owner
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