A South London council will seize dockless e-bikes blocking the borough’s streets at the end of the week unless the company takes urgent action.

Wandsworth Council leader Simon Hogg said people in wheelchairs and with prams had been forced to move into the road to dodge e-bikes plaguing the borough’s pavements.

He has told e-bike hire operator Lime the company’s bikes will be seized by officers on Friday (November 18) unless it does more to stop them blocking pavements – including slapping greater penalties on riders who dump them irresponsibly and increasing efforts to redistribute them.

There is currently no agreement between Lime and the Labour-run council for the e-bikes to be parked in Wandsworth but people are riding them into the borough and dumping them as they don’t need docking stations – leading to a flood of complaints to the council.

Going forward, the authority has agreed to provide parking bays for e-bikes and to enter into agreements with private operators on their use.

Lime said this will provide a long-term solution and that it will work with the council to make improvements in the meantime.

But the council said urgent action is needed and that it will begin seizing the e-bikes on Friday (November 18)  unless Lime does more to stop them blocking pavements.

In a letter to Wayne Ting, CEO of Lime, Councillor Hogg said e-bikes provide a “convenient and sustainable form of travel” but are “causing unacceptable obstructions” on pavements in Wandsworth.

He said: “This is most acute in streets with pavements of limited width and high footfall and around our rail and underground stations.

"Some pavements have been impassable, particularly for wheelchair users and people with buggies and prams, who have had to move into the road in order to pass by.

“Wandsworth Council has agreed to provide dedicated parking bays for e-bikes and to enter into agreements with operators regarding their use, but more action is needed urgently by Lime to ensure your customers are using your bikes responsibly.

“I am therefore asking that you increase your efforts in distributing and redistributing bikes to avoid obstructing pavements, and that you provide stronger messages to riders and greater penalties for those who leave bikes in poor locations.”

Councillor Hogg has told officers to remove all Lime e-bikes obstructing Wandsworth streets on Friday unless, he said, the company takes steps “to make sure they are parked in a more considerate way”.

He added: “We would prefer not to take this action. However, we will not hesitate to do so – unless Lime takes immediate steps to operate in a more responsible way.”

Hal Stevenson, senior public affairs manager at Lime UKI, said: “Lime understands the importance of not obstructing pavements and other shared spaces.

"It is vital that our service works for everyone sharing our streets.

"Though we have never deployed bikes in Wandsworth, we are currently seeing high numbers of vehicles ridden into the borough, as a result of record demand for the service from local residents and visitors.

“To address this we have introduced a number of policies to more effectively manage bikes left in the borough.

"These include GPS-based no-parking zones, mandatory end-trip photos to help review rider parking, an enhanced system of rider education, warnings, fines and bans and a 50per cent increase in our out-of-warehouse team size to help retrieve obstructive vehicles even faster.

“We are focused on working with the council to further improve user parking in the borough ahead of the launch of dedicated parking spaces for shared e-bikes, which will provide a long-term solution to these issues.”