The Daily Mail reports that a disabled pensioner has been convicted of riding his mobility scooter while over the drink-drive limit. I had always understood that, as mobility scooters were not licensed vehicles, the same law applied to them as to pedal cycles, in that it was illegal to ride them when “under the influence of alcohol”, but there was no defined legal limit. However, in this case the man was breathalysed and found to have a blood-alcohol level of 122mg (the legal limit being 80mg). At that level, while not fit to drive a car, someone isn’t in any meaningful sense “drunk”, and it seems that the police are stretching the law in a way that was not intended. I know a number of old boys who use mobility scooters to get to the pub, and if they were being hounded for having more than a couple of pints it could kill off what social life they have. And I imagine a lot of people would be up in arms if the police sought to extend the same principle to pedal cycles.
The comments on the article also show a depressing level of prejudice against the disabled.