Cyclist stopped by police for riding e-bike on M25

Rider caught on hard shoulder near Potters Bar on Sunday

The e-bike next to a police car after being seized by police
(Image credit: BCH Road Policing Unit)

An e-bike rider was stopped by police last Sunday after being caught cycling along the M25, riding a bike which exceeded the UK maximum assisted speed. 

Police were alerted to the cyclist’s presence on the motorway and stopped the rider on the hard shoulder, at Potters Bar, in Hertfordshire.

The bike - which fell “outside of [the] regulations and cannot be ridden in our roads” - was eventually seized by police.

The Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire road policing unit stated on X that the rider was also reported for the offence. 

Police said that the bike had a maximum power output of over 250w and a maximum speed of 22 miles per hour. In the UK, the maximum assisted speed for an e-bike is 15.5mph/25kph.

Hertfordshire police said officers were initially alerted at about 15:15 GMT on Sunday that “a man was riding a push bike on the hard shoulder of the M25” going in a clockwise direction. It is illegal to ride any form of bicycle on motorways in the United Kingdom. 

Sgt Jamie Cooper, from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Road Policing Unit, said: "I would like to remind everyone that it is illegal and unsafe to ride any type of pedal cycle on the motorway.

"Some pedal cycles - like the one stopped by our officers - are also illegal on any road in the United Kingdom, due to them falling outside of the EAPC regulations."

The arrest in Hertfordshire is not the first occasion a cyclist has been caught using the motorway in recent months. 

Back in October last year a food delivery cyclist was arrested on the M6 motorway

At the time, the CMPG wrote on X: "Male arrested for immigration offences having been stopped riding his push bike along the M6 South between junctions 7-6 he was delivering takeaways."

It added: "The motorway is no place for delivery riders, it's an offence and highly dangerous. @Deliveroo"

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Tom Thewlis
News and Features Writer

After previously working in higher education, Tom joined Cycling Weekly in 2022 and hasn't looked back. He's been covering professional cycling ever since; reporting on the ground from some of the sport's biggest races and events, including the Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix and the World Championships. His earliest memory of a bike race is watching the Tour on holiday in the early 2000's in the south of France - he even made it on to the podium in Pau afterwards. His favourite place that cycling has taken him is Montréal in Canada.