E-Scooter Accident Claims
Find out where you stand, free of charge
Whether you were riding, walking, cycling or driving, you may be able to claim. We handle e-scooter accident claims on a No Win No Fee basis, including the ones where the rider turned out to have no insurance.
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Years' experience
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Can you make an e-scooter accident claim?
If someone else’s carelessness caused your injury, you may be able to claim. That applies whether you were riding the e-scooter, walking when one hit you, cycling or driving when one came off a pavement, or thrown off by a pothole the council knew about.
Now the part that stops most people before they pick up the phone. If you were riding a privately owned e-scooter, you were almost certainly breaking the law by being on a road or pavement at all, and you have probably decided that ends it. It does not. A driver still owes you a duty of care, and the fact you should not have been there does not hand them a free pass. It can reduce what you recover, and we will be straight with you about that from the first conversation. It is a very different thing from having no claim.
Who actually pays an e-scooter claim?
With a car, this question never comes up. The driver has insurance because they must, and their insurer deals with the claim. E-scooters broke that assumption, and it is why so many people are told there is nothing to be done.
In law an e-scooter is a motor vehicle, which means insurance is compulsory to use one in public. Rental scooters in the official trial schemes have it, arranged by the operator. Privately owned ones effectively cannot get it, and that is precisely why riding them on a road or pavement is against the law rather than merely frowned upon.
So the practical question is not whether the rider was insured. Usually they were not. It is which of three routes your claim runs down, and that is answerable in one phone call.
The operator arranges insurance. From there it runs like any road traffic claim against an insurer, and it is the most straightforward of the three.
A claim may be possible through the Motor Insurers’ Bureau, which exists to compensate people injured by uninsured and untraced drivers. It generally covers a road or other public place rather than private land.
A driver who pulled out on you, a council that left a pothole unrepaired, or a manufacturer or seller whose brakes or battery failed. The scooter’s insurance status is then beside the point.
Most people we speak to do not know which kind of scooter was involved. That is normal, and finding out is our job rather than yours.
It is not only the riders
There were 1,390 casualties in collisions involving e-scooters in Great Britain in 2024, according to the Department for Transport. Six people died and 444 were seriously injured. Riders made up most of that, but not all of it: pedestrians, cyclists and people in cars are in the figures too.
That is worth saying plainly, because a lot of legal websites describe offshore work as though every incident were an explosion. Most are not. Most are a fall on a wet walkway or a back injury lifting something awkward in a confined space, and they end careers just as effectively.
It also does not mean operators get everything right. HSE raised 616 non compliance issues with duty holders in 2024, most commonly about maintenance, followed by control of work. Those two categories are precisely where injury claims come from.
pedestrians were hurt in e-scooter collisions in 2024
Fifty nine of them were seriously injured and one was killed. If you were walking when a scooter hit you, you are not an unusual case and you are very often the person with the clearest claim of anyone involved.
Source: DfT, Reported road casualties Great Britain, e-Scooter factsheet 2024, published September 202
How e-scooter accidents happen
If yours is not on this list, it does not mean there is no claim. Tell us what happened and we will look at it properly.
Drivers who did not look
Pulling out of a junction, turning across you, opening a door into your path, or overtaking far too close. Scooters are narrow, quiet and easy to misjudge for speed, none of which excuses a driver who did not check.
Pavement collisions
Riding on a footway is not permitted on any e-scooter, rental or private. Pedestrians hit from behind at speed have no chance to react, and older people and children come off worst.
Road surface defects
Small wheels and a standing rider are an unforgiving combination. A pothole or raised ironwork a car would never notice can throw you straight over the handlebars, and the highway authority may be responsible for it.
Faults in the scooter
Brakes that failed, a throttle that stuck, a folding stem that collapsed, or a battery that overheated or caught fire. Claims here can run against the manufacturer, the importer or the seller rather than any rider.
Badly parked rental scooters
Scooters dumped across a footway are a genuine hazard, particularly for people with sight loss or reduced mobility. Where an operator has left them there, a claim may lie against the operator or the authority.
The injuries that follow
In DfT’s 2024 data the most common serious injuries were fractures to the arm, collarbone or hand, then to the lower leg, ankle or foot, then head injuries. There is nothing between a rider and the road.
What e-scooter accident compensation includes
Claims are valued on their own facts and outcomes vary, so no page can tell you what yours is worth. What we can set out is what one is built from.
The pain, the treatment, the time on crutches or in a cast, and anything you cannot do now that you could before. This is assessed from medical evidence about your particular injury and recovery, using the Judicial College Guidelines.
Head injuries and psychological effects belong here too. People underplay both, especially the anxiety that follows being knocked down without warning.
Earnings you lost, treatment and physiotherapy you paid for, travel to appointments, and care given to you by family while you could not manage. Keep the receipts; they are worth more than people expect.
Damaged property counts as well. Phones, glasses, helmets, clothing and the scooter itself can all form part of the claim.
Not sure what your claim might involve? A free conversation will tell you more than any figure on a page.
Evidence in an e-scooter claim
These claims turn on identification more than most. There is no number plate to write down, so the evidence that fixes who was riding matters enormously, and a lot of it is deleted on a timer.
The rider rode off and you have none of this? Still worth a call. Untraced riders are exactly the situation the uninsured drivers scheme was set up to deal with, and we can start from very little.
No Win No Fee e-scooter accident claims
There is nothing to pay to start, and nothing to pay while the claim runs. If it does not succeed, you do not pay us for our work, subject to the terms of your agreement.
If it succeeds, a success fee comes out of your compensation. It is capped by law at 25% of certain parts of the award, and it is agreed with you in writing before anything begins. Costs such as the medical report and court fees, and the insurance that protects you if the claim fails, are explained at the same time rather than turning up later.
Ask us about the money at the first call. It is a reasonable question and there is a plain answer to it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know before starting your claim.
How do I make an e-scooter accident claim?
Start by telling us what happened, ideally before camera footage is overwritten. We then work out who the claim runs against, which depends on whether a rental or private scooter was involved and whether anyone else contributed, and we gather the evidence and your medical records. You do not need to have identified the rider, worked out anyone’s insurance position, or kept any paperwork. If you have a photograph or a police reference, bring it; if not, we start from what you can remember.
The rider had no insurance. Is there any point claiming?
Yes, and this is the most common reason people wrongly give up. Almost nobody riding a private e-scooter is insured, because cover for using one in public is not realistically available. That is why the Motor Insurers’ Bureau exists: it compensates people injured by uninsured and untraced drivers, and an e-scooter counts as a motor vehicle in law. It generally applies to accidents on a road or other public place rather than on private land. These claims have their own rules and deadlines, so get advice early rather than assuming there is no route.
I was riding a private e-scooter illegally. Can I still claim?
Usually you can still bring a claim against a driver who was careless. Riding a private e-scooter on a road or pavement is unlawful, but that does not cancel the duty other road users owed you, and it does not automatically defeat a claim. What it can do is reduce your compensation, on the basis that you contributed to the situation by being there. How much depends entirely on the facts. You may also face separate consequences from the police for the riding itself, which is a different matter from the injury claim. We will explain both honestly rather than talk you into something.
How long do I have to make a claim?
Normally three years from the date of the accident. For a child the clock does not start until their eighteenth birthday, so a claim can be brought up to their twenty first, and a parent or guardian can bring it sooner on their behalf. Where someone lacks the mental capacity to conduct a claim, the ordinary time limit may not run at all. Claims involving uninsured or untraced riders can carry their own, shorter notification requirements, which is another reason not to leave it.
A rental scooter hit me. Do I claim against the rider or the company?
Ordinarily the claim is against the rider, but it is met by the insurance the trial operator arranges, so in practice you are dealing with an insurer much as you would after being hit by a car. The operator can be a defendant in its own right in some situations, for instance where a scooter was faulty or left blocking a footway. If you can tell us the operator and roughly when and where it happened, that is usually enough for us to trace the hire.
How long does an e-scooter claim take?
A straightforward claim where liability is accepted often settles in around three to nine months. It takes longer where the injuries are serious, because the claim should not settle until the medical picture is clear, and longer again where the rider has to be traced or fault is disputed. Claims through the uninsured drivers route have extra steps and generally run longer than a standard road traffic claim. We will give you a realistic estimate once we know which situation you are in, and keep you updated rather than leaving you to chase.
Find out if you have a claim
Tell us roughly what happened and where. You do not need a registration number, an insurer, a police reference or any paperwork at all. We will look at it and come back to you with a straight answer, including if the answer is that there is nothing worth running.
- Free, confidential and no obligation
- No Win No Fee available
- Solicitors regulated by the SRA
- Uninsured and untraced riders included
Check if you can make a claim
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Told there is nothing you can do?
Most people who ring us about e-scooter accident claims have already been told the rider had no insurance, or that riding one was illegal anyway, and have assumed that settles it. Neither of those things ends a claim on its own. Tell us what happened and we will give you an honest answer, free and with no obligation.
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