E-scooter rider caught on M23 motorway in Surrey ‘told police he was following sat nav’

An e-scooter rider caught by police on a motorway told officers he was following his sat nav.

Surrey Police said the man gave the excuse after being spotted on the M23 in the early hours of Sunday.

His e-scooter suffered a flat battery while he was in lane four – often referred to as the 'fast lane'. Police seized the scooter and took the man off the motorway.

The e-scooter is privately-owned, which means it was banned from UK roads.

Legal trials of rental e-scooters are being held in around 30 urban areas across England.

'Dark and pouring with rain'

The Twitter account run by Surrey’s roads policing teams posted on Sunday: “At 5.30am this morning officers attended the M23 to deal with a person riding an e-scooter in lane 4 of the motorway!

“It was dark and pouring with rain. The rider’s excuse? His sat nav told him to. To add to his problems his e-scooter ran out of battery power, still in lane 4.

“The rider has been reported for a number of offences.

“The scooter was seized and the rider taken off of the motorway and is lucky to have avoided being struck by another vehicle.

“E-scooters are illegal to be used on a road let alone the motorway.”

It happened two days after Surrey Police stopped a disqualified driver using an e-scooter capable of reaching 55mph.

The device was seized and the person reported to court for several offences.

Latest Government figures show 10 e-scooter riders were killed and 331 were seriously hurt in crashes on Britain’s roads in 2021.

That was up from one fatality and 105 serious injuries during the previous 12 months.

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