Privately-owned e-scooters are set to be banned from London buses, Tubes or trains amid concerns they pose a fire risk.

While there are hire scheme trials in Richmond borough and other parts of the capital which allow people to ride approved electric scooters on the roads, it remains illegal to use privately owned machines.

Now, Transport for London (TfL) has announced that all privately-owned e-scooters and e-unicycles, including those that can be folded or carried, will be banned on London's transport network from Monday.

TfL said there have recently been incidents of privately-owned e-scooters and e-unicycles catching fire whilst on its services or infrastructure.

The ban, which has been backed by the London Fire Brigade, follows a fire on a Tube train in Parsons Green last month.

A safety review has linked these to faulty lithium-ion batteries which ruptured without warning, releasing toxic smoke.

TfL said it is concerned there could be significant harm to both customers and staff, as well as secondary injuries from customers trying to escape the area.

TfL's trial of rental e-scooters, which began in June 2021 as part of trials permitted nationally by the Department for Transport (DfT), offers the only e-scooters legally allowed on London's roads.

Lilli Matson, TfL's Chief Safety, Health and Environment Officer, said: "Our primary concern is always for the safety of our customers and staff.

"We have been extremely worried by the recent incidents on our public transport services, which involved intense fires and considerable smoke and damage.

"We have worked with London Fire Brigade to determine how we should deal with these devices and, following that review, we have decided to ban them.

"Customers who try to bring them onto our network will be refused access to our stations and premises, and not be permitted to use any of our services."