Man admits drink-driving on e-scooter

Unal Gokbulut failed a roadside breath test near his home in Ipswich.
Unal Gokbulut arrives at Ipswich Magistrates’ Court
PA Wire
Sam Russell21 May 2021

A man has admitted drink-driving while riding an e-scooter.

Unal Gokbulut was using the electric device when he was stopped and failed a roadside breath test near his home in Ipswich in the early hours of April 5, Suffolk Police said.

The 42-year-old appeared before Ipswich Magistrates’ Court on Friday where he admitted drink-driving while using the electric scooter.

Speaking through a Turkish interpreter, he said: “It’s correct. I’ve taken alcohol. I accept.”

Unal Gokbulut arrives at Ipswich Magistrates’ Court
PA Wire

He denied a second charge of driving without insurance and was bailed to return to the court on June 1.

Presiding magistrate Robert Saunders imposed an interim driving ban on the defendant.

Suffolk Police said Gokbulut, of Hilton Road, provided a breath test sample of 70 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – twice the legal limit of 35mcg.

E-scooters are treated as motor vehicles by the Department for Transport and are subject to the same legal requirement as other vehicles.

It is illegal to use a privately owned e-scooter on a public road, cycle lane or pavement in the UK.

The only place they should be used is on private land.

However, the Government has begun trials of e-scooters in approved rental schemes.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in