Southeastern has banned e-scooters from its trains over fears the “extremely dangerous” batteries may set on fire and melt through carriages.

The ban comes after instances of the vehicles catching alight have already been recorded across different train operators.

It is understood that if a battery were to go up in flames on a train, it would melt through the floor of the carriage, as well as causing passengers to panic and attempt to escape the danger area, which could cause significant injuries.

A Southeastern spokesman told KentOnline: “We have concerns over the safety of the lithium batteries used on e-scooters, and there have been some isolated incidents across the railway network where they have caught fire.

“If this was to happen on-board one of our trains it would obviously be extremely dangerous.

“It’s not a risk we are prepared to take, and so we’ve decided to ban e-scooters from June 1 until we can be sure they are safe.

“We’ll be rolling out our customer communications in the coming weeks to notify passengers about the change in our policy.”

Several other train companies already have a ban in place, including LNER, Avanti West Coast, TransPennine Express and Northern.

Transport for London also has a ban following two notable incidents of scooters catching fire on its network.

Southeastern explained the fires created by the scooters burn at such heat that fire extinguishers have no effect on them.

They can also continue to burn even after being submerged in water.

The transport company shared the news on its Twitter feed, owing the ban to “known safety risks”.

Just last month, it was revealed that a fire in a Sheerness flat was caused by an e-scooter.

The blaze killed a hero dog and gave a man life-changing burns.