Ebike and e-scooter fires in the UK reached a record high last year, an investigation has found, renewing concerns over the use of lithium batteries and unregulated marketplaces.

Fire brigade figures obtained by the Press Association show there were at least 432 ebike fires recorded across the UK in 2025, up 38% from 313 the previous year and more than five times higher than the 84 recorded in 2021.

There were at least 147 e-scooter fires in 2025, a 20% jump on the 123 in 2024. The figures come from freedom of information requests sent to the UK’s 49 fire brigades, of which 37 responded.

London fire brigade (LFB) recorded by far the most ebike and e-scooter fires last year, with 171 and 35 respectively. Nottinghamshire had the next highest number of ebike fires, 30, followed by Greater Manchester (13) and Avon (10).

Greater Manchester had the highest number of e-scooter blazes (13) outside London, ahead of Avon (10).

Ebike and e-scooter fires are often caused by the failure of batteries, conversion kits or chargers. Products bought from online marketplaces have been found to be at greater risk of malfunctioning than those sold by established retailers because they are not subjected to the same level of regulation.

Nick Bailey, of BatteryIQ, which provides a system to monitor the safety of ebike batteries, said the ebikes and e-scooters involved in fires were “always cut-price products sold through online marketplaces with lax quality control”.

He said: “There’s also a growing black market in DIY and counterfeit batteries, particularly for delivery riders, built using battery cells reclaimed from used disposable vapes.

“I wouldn’t keep a battery in my home without continuous monitoring – regardless of what the manufacturer’s sticker says.”

Fires involving lithium batteries used for ebikes and e-scooters can spread rapidly and produce a toxic vapour.

Last year, 30-year-old Eden Abera Siem died in hospital after a blaze at her north London home that investigators found was likely to have been caused by the failure of a charging ebike battery.

Lesley Rudd, the chief executive of the charity Electrical Safety First, said: “Poorly made batteries and accessories, often sold via under-regulated online marketplaces, are of huge concern and are a major route through which dangerous devices are entering people’s homes.

“Without strong and enforceable changes, lives are at serious risk and further loss of life is sadly inevitable.”

Spencer Sutcliff, an LFB deputy commissioner, said the brigade was “extremely concerned around the issue of ebike and e-scooter fires and the devastating impact these fires can have on lives and livelihoods”. He said the brigade’s firefighters “continue to be called out to a worrying amount” of the incidents.

Privately owned e-scooters have been banned from the Transport for London (TfL) network since December 2021 because of their fire risk. This was extended to non-foldable ebikes for the majority of TfL services in March last year after an ebike caught fire on a platform at Rayners Lane tube station.

Private e-scooters are banned from being used in public areas across the UK, although they are often ridden illegally in many urban locations. Legal trials of rental e-scooters on roads have been ongoing in towns and cities across England since July 2020.

Under UK law, ebike motors must cut out when a speed of 15.5mph is reached. But police are increasingly finding many have been modified to reach much faster speeds.

Sue Davies, Which?’s head of consumer rights policy, said: “Online marketplaces are increasingly saturated with unsafe products.

“Ebikes and e-scooters are just some examples of items that can pose serious risks to consumers while also undercutting responsible businesses that comply with the law.

“The government has launched a much-needed consultation on updating the product safety framework, including duties for online marketplaces to prevent unsafe products from being sold by third-party sellers.

“These duties must be strong and enforceable, with clear measures in place to protect consumers and reduce the risk of fires and other harm.”

Councils in England have been urged to crack down on the misuse of blue badge parking permits – legitimate and counterfeit – as the proportion of people holding them has reached one in 15.

The AA called for more to be done to detect offences such as people using fake or stolen badges.

The permits, which must be renewed every three years, help people with disabilities or health conditions to access shops and services by enabling them to park closer.

In London, they also exempt holders from having to pay the £18 daily congestion charge.

The latest Department for Transport (DfT) data shows that 3.07 million blue badges were held as of 31 March last year, with more than 6% of the estimated 46 million adults in England holding one.

Edmund King, the AA’s president, said: “The blue badge scheme is a mobility lifeline for millions of legitimate users and their families.

“Our concern is not the absolute number of badges issued but the estimates that up to one in five badges may be used by someone other than the holder or authorised user.

“Fraud is an issue which can include family misuse, use after death, counterfeit badges and theft and resale of badges.

“We would welcome a crackdown on illegitimate use of badges to safeguard the deserving users.”

While there are no recent figures for the cost of blue badge fraud in the UK, the National Fraud Authority, a now defunct Home Office agency, estimated it to be £46m per year in 2011.

The DfT data showed the English regions with the highest and lowest percentages of badge holders were the north-east (6.1%) and London (3.5%) respectively.

In 2019, the eligibility criteria for blue badges was extended beyond people with visible disabilities, to include those with non-visible conditions such as Parkinson’s, dementia and epilepsy.

More than two-fifths of the badges issued in 2024/25 were awarded without further assessment.

Depending on the location, the permits often enable holders to park free of charge in pay-and-display bays and for up to three hours on single and double yellow lines.

Several councils have reported prosecutions for blue badge misuse in recent months.

Croydon council in south London said in January that seven offenders were ordered to pay a total of nearly £6,000 in a combination of fines, court costs and a victim surcharge.

The cases involved badges which were stolen, counterfeit or belonging to someone else.

Last September, Oxfordshire county council reported two blue badge misuse convictions, including a man caught using his dead grandmother’s badge.

A Local Government Association spokesperson said: “Although the vast majority of badges are used correctly, there is a small minority who fraudulently use other people’s, either to save money by parking in disabled bays or through laziness, depriving someone with a genuine need.

“To help councils win the fight against blue badge fraud, residents must keep tipping councils off about people they suspect are illegally using a badge, bearing in mind people’s need for a badge might not be obvious.”

A DfT spokesperson said: “Exploitation and abuse of the blue badge scheme is completely unacceptable and is a criminal offence.

“Local authorities have been given improved powers to crack down on fraud and misuse in their area, and work closely with the police.”

The Press Association contributed to this report

UK drivers are being urged to look for the cheapest petrol and “to fill up as usual” as travellers prepare to make 21.7m journeys on what is expected to be the busiest Easter on the roads in four years.

The average price of a litre of unleaded petrol rose by 20p in March, from 132.83p on the 1st to 152.83p on the 31st, raising concerns about the cost of filling up for Easter journeys. The higher fuel prices have been triggered by rising oil prices as a result of the US-Israel war against Iran.

It was the fastest monthly price rise for petrol on record, according to data released by the motoring services company RAC, surpassing the previous record increase of 16.6p in June 2022, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But while the RAC said the jump was “unprecedented”, its head of policy, Simon Williams, urged travellers to continue their journeys while looking for the best deals. “Ahead of the Easter getaway, which is expected to be the busiest on the roads since 2022 … we urge drivers to fill up as usual and to … find the cheapest forecourts near them.”

National Highways are planning to temporarily suspend 1,500 miles (2,400km) of roadworks from motorways and major A-roads in England between Thursday and Easter Monday, as part of efforts to ease journeys, as the AA predicted 1m additional trips would be made compared with last year.

That will result in 21.7m total journeys, making this Easter bank holiday weekend the busiest on the roads since 2022, when travellers made their first full getaway after the end of Covid lockdowns. Traffic is predicted to peak on Thursday, when many schools break up for the holiday.

Some analysts suggested travellers may choose to cut back on their spending over Easter, including on fuel, amid the surge in petrol and diesel prices. Susannah Streeter, the chief investment strategist at the Wealth Club investment service, said: “There may be shorter trips planned ahead, and fewer chocolate treats bought along the way.”

The AA said that just over half of travellers expected to travel less than 50 miles this weekend, with 5% planning trips of 50-100 miles. About 1% expected to travel 100-200 miles, with fewer than 1% planning to clock up more than 200 miles.

There were likely to be more cars on the motorways due to train disruptions, with engineering works taking out west coast mainline services between London Euston and Milton Keynes from Good Friday to Wednesday 8 April.

There will be no rail service between Preston and Lancaster on 4-5 April, while in Hampshire no trains will run between Winchester and Southampton, and in Kent there will be no services between Herne Bay and Ramsgate. Services between London Waterloo and Clapham Junction will also be reduced.

Many will be choosing to go abroad, with the travel trade organisation Abta estimating that 2 million people from the UK will travel overseas this weekend. EasyJet said it was preparing for its busiest Easter getaway yet, reporting it would run 16,000 flights from UK airports during the two-week school break.

Those going to the European Union are being warned to expect two-hour delays as countries deploy a new border system, known as the EU’s Entry Exit System. It requires those from third-party countries, such as the UK, to have their photograph and fingerprints taken in order to enter the Schengen area.