Segway rider fined for pavement ride

An unemployed factory worker yesterday became the first person in the UK to be convicted of riding a Segway on a pavement.

Phillip Coates's prosecution has been seen as a test case by users of the two-wheeled personal transporters. But District Judge Michael Rosenberg ruled at Barnsley magistrates' court that the Segway is a motor vehicle and should not be ridden on the pavement. Coates, 51, of Cudworth, South Yorkshire, was fined £75, and ordered to pay £250 costs and a £15 victim surcharge. He had been seen riding on a pavement in Pontefract Road, Barnsley, in February.