A reckless delivery driver’s moped was seized this week after a police officer spotted him driving on the pavement and gave chase on his bicycle.
Riding a takeaway delivery moped across pavements, through ‘No Motor Vehicle’ signs & weaving through traffic at speed will get your ‘ped’ seized and your customer hungry. A Brighton #PreventionEnforcement officer pursued and stopped him on a pedal cycle too. #PedalPower #CS637 pic.twitter.com/NJcR0d9kPo
— Brighton&Hove Police (@BtonHovePolice) July 10, 2018
PC Kevin Stephenson was riding his electric bicycle along Western Road when he saw the moped speeding along the pavement in Clarence Square.
He pedalled after him and managed to stop him at traffic lights soon afterwards.
A police spokesman said: “On Tuesday afternoon, (10 April) an officer on a cycle saw a moped being ridden at speed from Western Road, Brighton, over the pavement in Clarence Square, and stopped it at lights in Western Road at the junction with Cannon Place soon afterwards.
“The rider was a 30-year-old Worthing man.
“The moped was seized under the provisions of Section 59 of the Police Reform Act, having been used in a manner causing alarm, distress or annoyance to the public.
“When a vehicle is seized, the owner has to pay a sum to get their vehicle back, plus an amount for every day their vehicle is in storage. The amount payable depends on the size and weight of the vehicle, but the owner of a standard road car would have to pay £150 plus £20 a day for every day their vehicle is in storage.
“Anti-social driving or riding can be reported at operationcrackdown.org.”
Bravo to this police officer. Moped delivery drivers are lately becoming a confounded nuisance not only on the pavements but in George Street, Hove during pedesrianised hours, as well as by riding up one-way streets in the wrong direction.
They have also colonised parts of Cranbourne Street And “pedestrianised” Bartholomew Square, Brighton, bang opposite the Town Hall, as moped parks, as I have raised recently at Local Action Team meetings; is this approved by the Council?
Doubtless the riders have taken their cue from lycra louts on bicycles who have been allowed to become a law unto themselves through lack of law enforcement by the police.Now lets see some of these bikes confiscated too!
Please sign this petition to ban motorised deliveries of takeaway food in Brighton and Hove: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/ban-motorised-deliveries-of-takeaway-food-in-the-city-of-brighton-and-hove
Are you also wanting to ban pedal cyclist deliveries as well? What about car deliveries? What about those unable to easily to get to takeaway food outlets on foot? What about those who are to inebriated to drive? What if I went to a takeaway out on my own moped?
How would/could you enforce such a ban?
Perhaps enforcement of the current road traffic laws (including the “lycra louts”) would be a better approach?
As with the fuss over the Pavilion Gardens, proper enforcement by the police would be a good starting point, rather than putting up fences and railings or petitioning for bans. Some of those making deliveries by moped are a real danger to the public and I fear it’s only a matter of time before someone is killed as a result of their dangerous driving/riding.
Most moped delivery drivers don’t have the correct insurance. More traffic police needed.