POLICE in Trowbridge have been urged to crack down on young people riding e-scooters.

Town councillors said on Tuesday that e-scooters are fast becoming a dangerous menace to pedestrians and cyclists using pavements and roads.

Speaking at a full town council meeting, Cllr Diana King said: "There have been two incidents this week, one of them this afternoon.

"On Friday, somebody came so fast up Cockhill pavement behind me that had I just stepped to one side I probably would have been knocked over. He went so fast he was out of slight before I could even blink.

"Secondly, in the Broad Mead estate where there is lots of paths and grass areas, there was a young guy on one this afternoon riding up and down.

"I was going to stop to speak to him but he just thought it was rather funny and kept going up and down.

"There is a lot of children there and there is people walking their dogs, there is families with children and dogs and pushchairs.

"He is going to knock one of them over sometime and I just wondered what on earth we do about these e-scooters because I suspect they are going to get more and more."

It is illegal to ride a privately-owned e-scooter - which sell for between £299 and £600 - in any public place in the UK, including roads, pavements, parks, town centres or canal towpaths.

The electric scooters have become increasingly popular and some can reach speeds of up to 30mph. Many people are likely to be buying one for Christmas.

Sgt Leighton Williams, of Trowbridge Police, said e-scooters are classified as personal light electric vehicles. They are treated as motor vehicles and subject to the same legal requirements such as MOT, licensing, tax and insurance.

As e-scooters do not have number plates, signalling ability and do not always have visible rear lights, they cannot be used legally on the roads.

He told councillors: "The difficulty the police face is a pursuit policy that doesn't allow us to pursue the vehicle.

"So if we see it on foot we have the same problem as you, it can go up to 25mph and it is gone unless that person is recognised and the vehicle seized 24 hours later."

He said the police need to update their pursuit policy in order to catch the riders.