It was around 04.40h last Sunday morning that a Guardia Civil, traffic patrol came across a man on a motorised scooter riding along a main road in Galicia.

With dark clothes, no reflective surfaces nor lights and little common sense, the 20-year-old rider was pulled over on the N-550 near Coruña.

The police, suspecting inebriation, stupidy or a combination of both, breathalysed him and found that he had given a reading equivalent to twice the amount of alcohol (contained in your breath) permitted under the Spanish Highway Code.

As you can’t use them on open roads, drunk or sober, he faces a fine of around 500 euros and a loss of four points off his driving licence – yes, he has a drivers licence.

Editorial comment: These machines are credited with being able to fold up and be stored in small places… A fitting punishment with this in mind, might be good retribution.

The fact is that motorised scooters – a descendent of a type for children that required one-foot propulsion – are becoming something of a danger to others, as they move quite fast, require no liability insurance and are a plague along promenades and other places reserved for people on foot.

(News: Coruña, Galicia)