E-scooter battery fire claims

What to do immediately after an e-scooter battery fire

As with any lithium-ion battery fire, treat the area as a continuing hazard until the fire service tells you otherwise — batteries that have overheated can reignite even once the flames appear to be out. Once things are safe, make a note of the fire service incident reference number if one is issued; we would ask you for it whichever route applies. Try not to clear away or dispose of the scooter, battery, charger, or any packaging you still have. Those items, along with photographs and receipts, are the evidence that decides these cases, and they cannot be recovered once discarded. Our evidence checklist covers this in more detail.

Private scooter or rental scheme?

Whether the e-scooter was your own or part of a rental scheme changes which questions matter most, so it is worth working out which applies before you go further.

If it was a private e-scooter you own, the same broad questions apply as with any other lithium-ion battery product: was the battery or charger faulty, did the fire happen at a home you own or a home you rent, and so on. Our guide to how we assess eligibility covers these routes — including the questions that arise when the fire happened in a rented home — in more depth.

If it was a rental scheme scooter, a further question arises about the scheme operator's responsibilities. This is a more specialist area than the product-liability and landlord questions covered elsewhere on this site, and we do not yet have enough independently verified information to set out specific rental-operator obligations here. What we can say in general terms is that where a company provides equipment for public use, maintenance and fitness for purpose become relevant to any assessment of what went wrong — but how that applies to a particular scheme and a particular incident needs the facts in front of it. We would rather be upfront about that gap than guess at it.

Does it matter if the scooter's use was illegal?

Whether it is currently lawful to ride a private e-scooter in a particular place is a separate question from who is responsible for a fire. One does not automatically cancel out the other.

We know this worries a lot of people, given how unsettled the legal position on private e-scooter use in public places has been in parts of the UK. But whether a product was faulty, whether a landlord met their fire-safety obligations, or whether a rental operator maintained its equipment properly, are all questions that stand on their own facts. We are not able to give you a view on the legality of e-scooter use in your particular circumstances — that is a different question from the one this page answers, and if it matters to you, it is worth raising alongside the fire itself.

Where we are on enquiries

We are not taking enquiries yet. We have no form, telephone number or email address in service on this site, so nothing you send can reach us and we collect nothing.

We are not taking enquiries. We have no enquiry form, telephone number or email address in service, and nothing you send can reach us at present.

When we open a route, we will publish it on our contact page. This page is general information about how these claims work — it is not advice about your own case.