Concerned members of public alerted officers to vehicle being driven erratically in Knowsley on New Year’s Eve. Police on Merseyside have admitted they were surprised when they caught up with an erratically driven scrambler bike on a public road to find the rider was a seven-year-old boy.
The budding Steve McQueen, who was by himself, explained to officers that he had been given the bike as a Christmas present. The boy was stopped after police responded to reports from concerned members of the public on New Year’s Eve about the way a scrambler bike was being ridden in Huyton. They arrived and saw for themselves it was being ridden “erratically”.
It is illegal for scramblers to be ridden on a road, let alone to allow a young child be in charge of one, police said. Insp Brian Loughran of Knowsley’s targeted policing team said: “It is really worrying that a seven-year-old was riding this vehicle on the roads. It is illegal for a scrambler to be driven on the road, but to let a child take to the roads presents a danger to their safety and the safety of others.
“We’ve seized the scrambler bike from today’s incident in line with Operation Brookdale protocols and we will continue to seize scrambler bikes that are being ridden dangerously or illegally. “We don’t want to be taking kids’ Christmas presents off them, but we’d rather be taking their bikes off the roads than taking them to hospital. Or worse.”.
