UKC

I'm convinced that quite a few people use mobility scooters as a cheap form of local transport. No licence; no road fund; no insurance. I've seen people come out of cafes, shops and pubs with no obvious indication of a disability(ok I know you can't always judge) get on a scooter and belt off down the road.

This morning I saw one driven by a woman of about thirty five with a boy of about ten standing on the scooter in front of her.

Scroll down to "Misuse of Mobility Scooters"
http://www.cararena.co.uk/blog/misuse-of-mobility-scooters/
Surely there should be checks in place to make sure that people acquiring them have a genuine need for them. I would have thought that some sort of medical certificate would be obvious.

In reply to FesteringSore:


Why?

In reply to MG:

I've often thought one would make an excellent method of getting home from the pub...

In reply to Ridge:

I'm waiting until they can be automated

In reply to Ridge:


I do even wonder whether some people use them in order to circumvent the drink/drive laws

In reply to FesteringSore:

No licence; no road fund; no insurance.

Bit like a push bike then.

In reply to andy.smythe:



Except that they are "motorized"

In reply to andy.smythe:



However the trip home from the pub wouldn't involve Mrs Ridge strangling me by hanging onto the collar of my jacket whilst delivering a constant stream of complaints about the saddle being "like a ****ing razor blade"...

In reply to FesteringSore:

A local woman was prosecuted for riding hers pissed...

In reply to andy.smythe:

I'm amazed a snide "cylists are tw*ts" post took 6 replies to turn up. Thought it would be fewer.

In reply to FesteringSore:

Get one if you're jealous. If you're not, get over it.

In reply to ianstevens:

Err, pretty sure that post was saying scooters are like bikes so why expect then to be licenced, not that cyclists are tw*ts.

Good going with the chip on the shoulder and paranoia though.!

In reply to andy.smythe:



But push bikes are illegal to ride on the pavement.

In reply to FesteringSore:

People had been using them as to circumvent drink driving rules. A few years ago it was made illegal to use one of you do not have a disability affecting mobility. In the same way that you don't need a driving licence to buy a car, or a TV license to buy a TV, you don't need to prove disability to buy one.

In reply to FesteringSore:


So is an electric bike. Big deal.
Jk

In reply to andy.smythe:

Except fatties don't do push bikes

In reply to ianstevens:


I never said that. I like cycling.

In reply to Jim C:

Only if the footpath is next to a road.

In reply to Nicola:

I don't know about cars but when I have bought new (not second hand) motorbikes I have been asked to produce my licence and when I got a vcr when living at my girlfriend's I got a letter there a few weeks later saying I needed a TV licence.

In reply to Ridge:

They don't - Mrs C had the pleasure of nicking a bloke blind drunk on a mobility scooter a few years ago - made the Cumberland news - oh how we ribbed her

In reply to Nicola:


Not true

In reply to Ridge:


After his then wife had hidden the keys to all of his cars, the late great country singer George Jones once rode his powered motor mower *eight miles* down the road in order to buy booze.

In reply to Rob Parsons:

In the same manner didn't the Wales rugby player Andy Powell drive a golf buggy, pi55ed along a motorway?

In reply to cander:


Looks like I need a Plan C...

In reply to the sheep:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2010/feb/14/andy-powell-golf-buggy-wales

In reply to FesteringSore:

You really can't tell people don't have a need for them just by looking at them. It's not you can't always tell it's that you can't tell.

In reply to Ridge:

Plan A, B or C Doesn't matter - most drink drivers get dobbed in by other people in the pub or who see a drunk getting into a car - take a taxi.

In reply to cander:

I wasn't being entirely serious...

In reply to Ridge:

I know but its not widely known that most drink drivers do get dobbed in - or it is round here. The "gentleman" on the mobility scooter was staggering around before going into the village shop to get a bottle of hootch mid afternoon - the shopkeeper did for him! you should have heard the howls from the local half wits writing into the news and star about the nasty police arresting disabled people and what harm could he do to anyone on a mobility scooter - bloody cumbrians - were a bit to inbred for our own good! If a crime is reported to the police they have to do something about it, particularly in a part of the world where crime is low.

In reply to cander:


Not if they're busy apparently....http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-36313944

In reply to ruffydd:

Classic Hot Fuzz, Yaarrp.