Police warning: Don’t drink and drive e-scooters
OVER-THE-LIMIT RIDERS CAN FACE SAME PENALTIES AS CAR USERS
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DRUNK revellers looking to jump on an e-scooter to get to the next pub or ride home after a night on the town have been warned they could face “serious consequences”.
Dozens of the yellow Wind Mobility scooters were brought in last year as an environmentally friendly form of transport and can be seen scattered across the city centre.
However, there have been numerous complaints in recent months about the vehicles being “abandoned” on paths and open spaces, as well as blocking access for pedestrians.
And the use of e-scooters has already led to one prosecution after a man was found riding one while under the influence of alcohol.
The scooters are classed as a legal form of road transportation so, if a member of the public riders one while under the influence, it can lead to drink-driving charges.
It has led to a warning from both Nottinghamshire Police and Wind Mobility, urging drunk residents not to take a ride after visiting Nottingham’s pubs and bars.
The consequences include penalty points on driving licences, road bans and scooter accounts being suspended.
A spokesperson for Wind Mobility said: “Wind Mobility has a zero-tolerance policy for drunk riding and will immediately suspend the account if a user is reported for drunk riding.
“We will also report the user to the police and want to warn our users that drunk riding an e-scooter can have serious consequences for their driving licence as the licences are linked to each user’s Wind account.
“In addition to educating our users via the Wind app and our social media platforms that drunk riding is not permitted, we are also in constant exchange with Nottinghamshire Police to adjust the number of parking spots in hotspot areas.”
The warning comes after several people were seen in the city centre on Saturday night having a go on the scooters after a drink.
The Post encountered two men at the junction of Collin Street and Maid Marian Way, where several scooters had been knocked over by a bus
stop.
One of the men told our reporter: “If you’re looking to take a picture of those, it was us who smashed them up trying to get them to work.” The pair then proceeded to manually push an e-scooter down a path and into the direction of pedestrians. Nottinghamshire Police’s neighbourhood policing inspector Paul Gummer said: “An e-scooter is classed as a motor vehicle and as such, driving one while under the influence of alcohol or drugs is an offence. “We have already seen a driving ban being served to someone who drove one while drunk after officers stopped a man driving an e-scooter erratically through Lenton on March 7. “E-scooters are not toys and drinkdriving on them could have a serious impact on your driving licence, or ability to take a test in the future. “As well as this, driving the e-scooters whilst under the influence of alcohol poses a danger to yourself, other road users and pedestrians. The message is clear – do not drive an e-scooter while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. It is illegal, reckless and unsafe.”
We have already seen a driving ban being served to someone who drove one while drunk
Inspector Paul Gummer