COLUMBIA - The University of Missouri has impounded around 20 Bird scooters since the company dropped them off in Columbia.

Christian Basi, University of Missouri spokesperson, says the scooters were blocking the campus’ accessibility.

“So we’ve impounded approximately 20 bird scooters, specifically because we’ve received complaints about them in areas that were deemed unsafe or the fact that they’ve been blocking ADA-accessible entrances,” he said.

Bird has not reached out to the university, Basi added.

“We’ve been waiting for Bird to reach out to us, we have expressed concerns about these very issues and the reasons why the scooters have been impounded and we’re hoping the company will eventually reach out to us,” he said.

UM will continue to impound the scooters if they are left in unsafe areas or blocking ADA-accessible entrances.

“There are significant safety issues that continue to occur and as we receive complaints we will continue to collect the scooters if they are in unsafe area or have been discarded in an unsafe manner,” Basi said.

In order for Bird to get their scooters back, they’ll need to pay.

“A fee will have to be assessed, that will be discussed once the company contacts us and it’s going to depend on how long we’ve held the scooters and how many scooters we actually have,” he said.

It just comes down to safety.

“We’ve seen some scooters in some very unsafe situations including in the middle of streets and we just can’t have that on campus,” Basi said.