Drones seek out illegal bikers on day of action

As a police drone hovers above the streets of Scunthorpe, three young children are spotted riding on an illegal e-scooter towards a busy road.

They are so small, says PC Darian Hullett, they can "barely see over the handlebars".

Guided by the drone, officers move in, speak to the children and seize the scooter.

It is one of five taken off the streets during a day of action by Humberside Police, which also targets electric motorbikes and motorcycle theft.

Hullett has seen the damage e-scooter crashes can cause, including serious leg and head injuries.

"We have had some fatalities in the force to do with these vehicles – they are very dangerous," he adds.

The risk to riders and the anti-social behaviour linked to illegal e-scooter and e-bike use, along with motorcycle theft, prompted the action day.

It happened a week after a BBC investigation showed how young people in northern Lincolnshire were stealing motorcycles and then mocking their victims on TikTok and other social media platforms.

Hullett, who is part of Operation Yellowfin – a team dedicated to combatting motorcycle crime – acknowledges that the public wants to see action on the issue.

"We have hundreds of reports per year that this activity is ongoing," he says.

"I think we've all got it in our minds that there isn't enough that goes on and this is our way of targeting that."

There has, he says, been an increase in staffing for Yellowfin – and on this occasion colleagues are also brought in from the roads and rural policing teams to form a dedicated taskforce.

In addition to the work on the south bank of the Humber, similar efforts are being made in Hull and East Yorkshire, Hullett adds.

Insp Pete Musgrave, who covers the south Scunthorpe and rural neighbourhood, says "predominantly younger riders" have been causing "a lot of issues" in the community, including anti-social behaviour and disrupting other road users.

While some problems, such as people not understanding the rules around e-scooters, call for greater education, others, such as tackling off-road electric motorbikes, require more robust enforcement.

"Where riders cover their faces up, looking to disguise themselves, then that's where the enforcement comes in, so it's really important that we look to tackle that," Musgrave explains.

Finding and locating these riders can be a difficult task, however.

During the day of action, the force sends up drones to look over a former quarry in Ashby, where quad bikes have been reported.

"The drone can be overhead, watching the illegal activity, without them even knowing we are there," Hullett says.

However, on this occasion no one is spotted.

Hullett then receives reports of "two men in balaclavas" riding "off-road pit bikes" at a busy park in Scunthorpe.

As he drives towards the scene with blue lights and siren on, he explains: "There's so many parents and kids out, dogs out walking, you know, they're in a balaclava, they don't see a kid running out in front of them, or a dog running out in front of them, that's just at risk of being injured."

When they arrive at the park, they send up a drone, but while it captures families enjoying themselves at a bouncy castle, the bikers are nowhere to be seen.

According to the force, more than 100 vehicles have been seized over the past year as part of Operation Yellowfin.

However, over the two years to April there were 383 reports of stolen e-bikes and 769 of stolen motorcycles and mopeds.

Hullett adds: "It is a nuisance for people in the neighbourhoods, it's a very expensive nuisance that costs thousands of pounds of damage to farm areas and local parks, so definitely something that people out there want to see us targeting."

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