Drink-drive law ‘should include scooters’

A ROAD safety charity is calling for a change in the law after the case against a woman accused of being drunk while driving her mobility scooter was dropped.

Teresa Bolton, 69, of Polonia Court, Oldham, was arrested and charged after being found almost three times over the legal drink-drive limit while in control of the scooter.

But the case against her was withdrawn when prosecutors discovered invalid carriages were exempt from the drink-drive laws.

Now The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (Rospa) says drink-driving laws should be applied to all vehicles that use public roads. Mrs Bolton had already appeared in court twice and had pleaded not guilty.

At one of the hearings, magistrates were told that she was driving her mobility scooter on Chapel Road on September 18 last year after attending the funeral of her friend.

The police were called when a taxi driver claimed she had damaged his vehicle and she was given a breath test.

She was then taken back to the station where a second test found she had 301mg of alcohol in 100ml of urine. The legal limit for driving is 107mg.

Mrs Bolton was later charged with driving a motor vehicle with an alcohol level above the limit, but the case against her was eventually dropped at Oldham Magistrates’ Court last month.

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said invalid carriages were exempt under legislation.