Via updating the 2020 e-scooter trial scheme, the UK Department for Transport (DfT) has expanded its e-scooter trial areas.
E-scooters can be used on the road (except motorways) and in cycle lanes in an official trial area, with rental e-scooter users requiring a provisional or full UK driving licence with a category Q entitlement.
Trials are now taking place in these areas:
- Bournemouth and Poole
- Buckinghamshire (Aylesbury, High Wycombe and Princes Risborough)
- Cambridge
- Essex (Braintree, Chelmsford and Colchester)
- Gloucestershire (Cheltenham, Gloucester and surrounding areas)
- Liverpool
- London (participating boroughs)
- Milton Keynes
- Newcastle
- North and West Northamptonshire (Northampton, Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Rushden and Higham Ferrers)
- Norwich
- Nottingham
- Oxford
- Salford
- Slough
- Solent (Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton)
- West Midlands (Birmingham, Coventry)
- West of England Combined Authority (Bristol, Bath and parts of South Gloucestershire)
DfT hopes to use the data gathered from the trial areas to inform future rollouts, as it did so when expanding the areas that e-scooters are able to be used on a trial basis.
Should the trials continue to be a success, DfT could consider either a nationwide provisional rollout or introduce new regulations permitting usage within urban environments.
Achievements and innovations in e-mobility will be recognised and celebrated at the fourth annual CiTTi Awards on 25 November 2025 at De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London. Visit www.cittiawards.co.uk to learn more about this unmissable event for the UK’s transportation sector!
