Skip to main content
Think twice before gifting kids e-scooters this Christmas, warn medics
Forest and Lime + Uber e-bikes left on the pavement in Parliament Square, London, November 26, 2024

MEDICAL experts and police have joined forces to urge parents not to gift e-bikes and e-scooters to children after an “alarming” rise in injuries.

The warning comes as the Royal Hospital for Children (RHC) in Govan reported more than 30 cases of children — ranging in age from seven to 15 — needing treatment for injuries  including major head trauma, broken femurs, chest injuries, and severe lacerations.

The figure dwarfs the four recorded over the same period in 2024, and comes despite a ban on under-14s riding e-bikes in Scotland and privately-owned e-scooters being banned from roads, cycle lanes, pavements and public spaces.

RHC’s major trauma co-ordinator Mark Lilley said: “The rise in injuries this year is alarming.

“A fall at speed can cause life-changing head or brain injuries. We’ve seen the trauma these accidents bring to families, and we strongly urge parents to reconsider before buying one.”

Warning that e-bike and e-scooters on public roads faced being seized, Police Scotland’s Sergeant Paul Mellis added: “I’d urge parents and carers to consider the dangers e-scooters and e-bikes present before purchasing one for a child this Christmas.”

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
500 miles for solidarity
Aw That / 23 May 2026
23 May 2026

After battling hills, rain and injury in a three-day cycle ride ending at the CWU conference, MATT KERR reflects on why class unity remains the answer to injustice

RALLYING CALL: Roz Foyer of the STUC and a range of civil society groups will be protesting tomorrow at the Scottish Parliament
Features / 24 October 2025
24 October 2025

We are demanding action from our politicians to deliver justice, fairness and decency throughout our communities – join us, says ROZ FOYER

CONTROVERSY: A court artist sketch of Nicholas Johnson KC crossexamining nurse Lucy Letby at Manchester Crown Court, May 18 2023
Features / 14 September 2025
14 September 2025

Former judge ANSELM ELDERGILL examines the details and controversy of Lucy Letby’s trial and appeal in the context of famous historical wrongful convictions that prove both the justice system and legal activists make errors

HEROIC CONCLUSION: The riders by the sculpture of Mary Barbour - sculpted by Andrew Brown - commemorating the 1915 Glasgow Rent Strike
Aw That / 2 August 2025
2 August 2025

MATT KERR charts his bike-riding odyssey in aid of the Royal Marsden charity and CWU Humanitarian Aid