It is illegal to use electric scooters on public roads, unless they are employed as part of a government approved scheme.

Derby City Council ran an electric scooter trial scheme that made some e-scooters legal, but it was halted in January after a US company pulled out.

In the past two years, the force said it received 509 calls about anti-social behavior involving electric scooters and 441 reports that they were being driven dangerously.

Sup. James Thompson said officers “took the pragmatic approach of warning people that they were breaking the law” because there was “the potential for confusion because of the scheme of the trial going on in Derby”.

“Since the trial scheme stopped earlier this year, that confusion has now ended, and if you ride an electric scooter in public then you are committing an offence,” he said.

Electric scooter safety campaigner Sarah Gayton, from the UK National Federation of the Blind, welcomed the force’s new stance, adding that it should publish data regularly to show whether the new approach is working or not.

“We hope other police forces will be inspired to take this action,” she said.

“E-scooters are terrifying pedestrians.

“There are still a lot of hidden dangers out there for people to be hurt and not reported.”