Led by Suffolk Trading Standards’ Imports Team, and supported by Hertfordshire and Metropolitan Police, the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) and the Department for Transport, the agencies worked in partnership, sharing intelligence and resources to target goods imported through the Port of Felixstowe.
The operation sought to detect and detain unsafe and non-compliant electric off-road motorcycles and disrupt the importation of the illegal imports before they reached consumers. This action was carried out to prevent serious harm caused by fire, explosion, electric shock, as well as anti-social behaviour and criminality linked to these vehicles.
During the joint operation, suspect containers were held at the border and inspected by Officers from Suffolk Trading Standards and Hertfordshire Police.
Following three days of detailed examinations, 340 electric transport goods were detained or seized. All were assessed as dangerous and posing a serious risk to safety. Some of the goods were unlabelled, whilst some had labelling only in Chinese.
Many were supplied with non-UK plugs and chargers, with unsafe UK travel adaptors posing a fire risk. Some were CE/UKCA marked but much of the technical documentation supplied was fake.
Because of the various issues found, none of the goods were legal for the UK, on or off the road, and many were capable of reaching speeds in excess of 50mph.
The goods included:
- 224 counterfeit or grey import Sur-ron electric motorbikes, including Lite Bee, Hyper Bee and Ultra Bee models, some of which can reach 56mph (value £1,027,905)
- 5 Talaria electric motorbikes retailing around £5,000 each
- A high-powered ‘Arctic Leopard’ electric motorbike valued at £6,000 which can be ridden over 63mph
- A Blade II ‘Teverun’ electric scooter worth £6,000 and capable of speeds of 53mph
- 40 high-powered electric bikes commonly used by food couriers
The total retail value of seized or detained goods is estimated at £1,384,630.
In addition to removing unsafe goods from circulation, the operation uncovered incorrect and misleading import declarations and identified businesses linked to the illegal supply chain.
Intelligence gathered will be shared nationally to disrupt similar activity elsewhere.
Councillor Steve Wiles, Suffolk County Council’s Cabinet Member responsible for Public Health and Public Protection, said:
“This was a sophisticated and highly targeted operation that stopped more than a million pounds’ worth of dangerous, counterfeit and non-compliant electric vehicles from reaching UK consumers.
“These products pose a very real threat - not just through the risk of fire or electric shock, but also through their links to anti-social behaviour and criminality.
“I want to thank our Trading Standards team and all the partner agencies involved for their expertise and commitment in protecting the public and disrupting the supply chains behind these illegal goods.”
Assistant Chief Constable Nick Caveney, of Hertfordshire Constabulary, said:
“This intelligence-led joint operation was a huge success for Hertfordshire police. By sending Herts police officers to support this crackdown at Felixstowe we found more than 50 unsafe and illegally imported electric off-road motorcycles that were destined for sale in our county.
“Stopping electric motorbikes like these from reaching the streets of Hertfordshire, where we see their links to anti-social behaviour and criminality, is a priority for the constabulary.
“Across the country, police forces have been running Operation Topaz deployments this summer as part of an National Police Chiefs’ Council-led initiative to tackle road-related harm and wider criminality in a proactive way, focusing resources in the right areas and targeting those that are using vehicles on the roads illegally and for criminal purposes, to protect and support victims of sexual offences, domestic abuse and other violent crimes.”
Suffolk Trading Standards will continue to work with enforcement partners to remove unsafe e-transport goods from the UK market, trace their supply routes, and ensure that criminals profiting from dangerous imports are stopped at the earliest opportunity.
If you have purchased a product that you think may be unsafe, stop using it immediately and report it to Trading Standards via Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 0808 223 1133.
