Cheshire Police are using drones to crackdown on the use of illegal e-bikes across the county.

Cllr Keith Millar (CWAC, Lab) raised concerns at the police and crime panel meeting about the increasing danger of e-bikes 'whizzing through shopping centres' and being a general nuisance and danger.

Police commissioner Dan Price (Lab) said: "I've been very clear that I think drone technology is an important use in that space.

"The drone team in Cheshire is growing in capabilities in line with what we said at the budget consultation…

"I'm pleased to say that I've provided funding for additional training of more officers to be able to utilise that technology."

Mr Price said the force was also looking to buy a new tethered drone, which would give it a lot more time in the air.

"So I believe passionately that that capability is a really important tool for policing to deal with e-bikes," he said.

The commissioner stressed the problem was only with illegal e-bikes – and he said the onus should be on manufacturers to make it more difficult to reprogramme them so they could reach excessive speeds.

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"More and more people are clearly having them re-chipped, and I do think that the real onus has got to be put on the manufacturers of the technology to make it much, much harder to re-programme these bikes from the 15 miles an hour that is allowable to, in some cases, 60 miles an hour, which is outrageous and incredibly dangerous for everybody, including the person who's on the bike," he said.

"That I think is what's got to happen.

"But between now and then, I can see that we're putting more resources in to deal with it, and I think that is a reflection of the public saying very clearly to me that this is a real frustration, and I'm pleased to say that we are responding to it."