Segway rider fined £75 for heinous crime
21 January 2011
Philip Coates of Cudworth has been convicted and fined for "wilfully" riding his Segway on the pavement.

Coates was spotted on the mobility aid in Barnsley last February, had his collar felt and was prosecuted under the Highways Act 1835 (that's only 166 years before the Segway's invention). The charge was that he "wilfully rode a motor vehicle, namely a Segway, upon a footpath".

The scooter has a top speed of 12.5 miles per hour, and it seems the wheels of justice run at a similarly sedate pace as it wasn't until this week that Coates was finally hit with a £75 fine and ordered to pay £250 costs (plus a £15 'victim surcharge', whatever that might be). And that was despite the support of celebrity Segway-rider Lembit Opik, who can always be called upon to lend gravitas to proceedings.

Police tackle another Segway rider yesterday

District Judge Michael Rosenberg - after much deliberation - ruled that the Segway is a motor vehicle "intended or adapted for use on a road". So no riding on the pavement. But they're banned on the road as well - because they don't have licence plates or lights and are just a bit too silly. In fact, the only place you can legally ride a Segway is on private land, with the owner's permission - and even then you still look a berk.

Technology fans will remember that the Segway has something of a chequered history. Back in September, Jimi Heselden - owner of the company - Segwayed off a cliff. It's what he would have wanted.