Westminster has seized more than 1,000 dockless hire bikes since May and fined operators 5,300 times. In August the count was 235. How to report one.
Westminster City Council has seized more than 1,000 dockless hire bikes from the borough’s streets since May. In the same period it has issued more than 5,300 fixed penalty notices to the bike companies.
The council announced the milestone on Thursday. (Westminster City Council, 8 October)
It says it has also sent the operators a bill of more than £450,000. That is on top of the charges the firms pay to get seized bikes back.
The pace has picked up sharply
On 3 August the council said 235 bikes had been seized since May. That was when Lime, Voi, Forest and Bolt agreed a clean-up deal with the council. (Westminster City Council, 3 August)
Nine weeks later the total has passed 1,000. So more than three quarters of the seizures have come since the operators signed up to that deal.
Two things drove the jump:
- On 23 September the council doubled its enforcement teams for a week-long blitz, with City Inspectors visiting every ward. (Westminster City Council, 23 September)
- During that push, teams seized a record 217 bikes in a single week, according to Thursday’s announcement.
The council says it will keep seizing bikes, storing them and charging the companies to collect them. It wants the operators to police their own fleets and act against riders who park badly.
A change of approach
This is a reversal of the council’s position a year ago. In November 2025, under the previous administration, it chose on-the-spot £100 fines to Lime and Forest instead of seizing bikes. (Westminster City Council, 13 November 2025)
At the time it said seizing and storing bikes “requires a huge amount of resource” and “cannot match the scale of the problem”. It now does both: fines and seizures.
Councillor Caroline Sargent, the deputy leader and cabinet member for enforcement, said: “Behind each of these 1,000 seizures is a resident who has been inconvenienced by a bike left where it shouldn’t be.” She named parents with pushchairs, wheelchair users and people forced to step into the road.
The council also claims it issues more fines and seizes more bikes than any other council in the country. It has not published figures for other councils to back that up.
What the council has not said
The announcement leaves some things out:
- how many of the 5,300 penalties each operator received
- what the operators pay to recover a seized bike
- how much of the £450,000 bill has been paid
- which streets produced the most seizures
The November 2025 release did name two problem spots: Soho Square and Berkeley Square, where bikes were being lined up next to the parking bays.
What it means for you
If a bike is blocking a pavement, the council asks you to use its Report it service where a bike causes immediate danger. The report goes to the operator. You can also email the operators directly:
| Operator | |
|---|---|
| Lime | london-ops@li.me |
| Voi | london_ops@voiapp.io |
| Forest | cs@humanforest.co.uk |
If you ride the bikes, end your ride in one of the council’s more than 380 designated bays. A bike left elsewhere can now be fined, seized, or both. Bolt has said riders who repeatedly park badly get banned.
If you think a bay is in the wrong place, the council takes comments on bay locations at askhighways@westminster.gov.uk.
The rules on hire bikes may change nationally. The council has long said dockless schemes are unregulated in England. It has called for powers to license them, expected through the English Devolution Bill.
Sources
- Westminster City Council: Westminster seizes 1,000 dockless bikes in safer streets crackdown, published 8 October 2026, for the 1,000 seizures, 5,300 penalties, £450,000 bill, record 217-bike week and the councillor’s quotes.
- Westminster City Council: Westminster doubles up on dockless bike enforcement, published 23 September 2026.
- Westminster City Council: New deal on data sharing and badly parked dockless bikes, published 3 August 2026, for the 235 seizures.
- Westminster City Council: direct fines to operators, published 13 November 2025, for the £100 fines, the earlier position on seizures and the Soho Square and Berkeley Square hotspots.
- Westminster City Council: dockless e-bike parking bays, information for residents and businesses, for the bay count, reporting route and operator contacts.
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