Moving scooter with his feet was a drink-drive offence

Troy Poynder, 23, who gave a Castel address when he appeared in the Magistrate’s Court, argued that the circumstances could enable the court to reduce the penalties.

He was successful as he was fined £300 for drink-driving with no licence suspension.

A £200 penalty, with a driving ban of two months, was meted for the no insurance offence.

Advocate Jenny McVeigh, prosecuting, told the court that the defendant had been out with friends. Just after 3am he found himself with two of them in the car park waiting for a lift.

The three men walked from the toilets to the scooter park and the defendant sat on a white machine, rocked the bike forward and took it off the stand. The incident was captured on CCTV with the footage shown to the court.

Another person, who he said he did not know, appeared and sat on the back, before Poynder asked him to get off. He moved it around the car park for a few metres before parking it back on its stand. The keys were never in the ignition.

This was monitored by staff at the Joint Emergency Services Control Centre and police were asked to attend. A breath sample taken later showed 53 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of his breath when the legal limit is 35.

Poynder’s advocate, Liam Roffey, said the bike was off its stand for just two minutes and 15 seconds. His client had put it back on the stand before the police arrived. It had, he said, just been a bit of tomfoolery on his part.

Using a vehicle without insurance would normally attract a licence suspension of 12 months.

Advocate Roffey asked the court to take into account that his client had only 'paddled' the scooter for a few metres, riding it at walking pace with the engine off.

This had been in a car park and not on the road and the overall risk to others had been minimal. There were no intentions to go any further.

He told police his intentions were innocent and that he had never intended to steal or damage the scooter. He acknowledged that while it had been a harmless joke, he would have been annoyed if it had been his scooter.

Reference was made to case law.

Judge Graeme McKerrell said the defendant’s guilty pleas were the correct ones.

He found that there were special reasons in this case but said the fact that somebody else had been on the back of the scooter for a short while elevated the no insurance matter somewhat, and meant there had to be some penalty.