Taking the £3,000 human transporter for a 'test ride'

I stepped up onto the foot plate of the Segway with a nervous feeling akin to first snapping on the skis on a nursery slope.

But unlike events in the Bavarian Alps some 11 years ago, I found that travelling on this new scooter was mostly a fear-free experience - regardless of how it looked to passers-by at the Farnborough airshow.

If you want to move forwards, you simply move your head and body in that direction, much as you would when walking. The same principle of weight transference applies if you want to stop or go backwards, you just lean back. The only technique required is to look ahead, hold the handlebars and stand with knees bent.

The slightly tricky part is steering left or right, which is a matter of twisting the left grip on the handlebar like a motorbike's throttle. This requires only a modicum of co-ordination but the mind does funny things when you are heading downhill towards a busy road.

My 10-minute test did not graduate to bumpy ground but judging by the ease with which one novice went down a kerb, that can't be too difficult.

The secret of the machine, which may go on sale in Britain next year for about £3,000, is seven sensors between the wheels developed by BAE Systems. This week the firm starts a marketing drive in Britain with the machine's American developer, Dean Kamen.

The battery-powered Segway has a top speed of 12mph and I felt comfortable until told that my model had been limited to 5mph for novices. What a come down. The Segway is fun, but will it become ubiquitous in Britain as investors envisage?