E-scooters to be banned by Greater Anglia in Norfolk – including on King’s Lynn train services

E-scooters are set to be banned on some West Norfolk train services due to “potential risks” to passenger safety.

The Greater Anglia service, which runs trains in and out of Lynn, will no longer allow the scooters to be carried on-board from Thursday (June 1) because of the fire risks posed by their batteries.

The operator says it is taking measures to ensure the safety of both railways and passengers, in line with similar movies from other train operators.

There have been no safety incidents recorded to date involving e-scooters on Greater Anglia services, although Transport for London has banned the vehicles following two incidents of privately owned e-scooters catching fire on its network.

Matt Wakefield, Greater Anglia’s head of safety, security and sustainability, said: “Safety of our passengers and staff is our number one priority, and we know that e-scooters have battery packs which vary greatly in quality.

“The decision has therefore been made to ban these items from carriage on our network due to recent incidents elsewhere and the risks associated with them using faulty lithium batteries and catching fire.”

The new Greater Anglia policy will cover e-scooters only – with mobility scooters, electric wheelchairs and e-bikes all exempt from the ban.

This is in line with similar rulings from other train companies including East Midlands Railway and West Midlands Railway.

Bans are also being imposed by Greater Northern, which runs services via Lynn.