A 20-year-old Newcastle man who spent £1,200 on an e-scooter for a takeaway delivery job had it confiscated by police the day after he bought it. The man is also facing a day in court after being reported for careless driving and driving with no insurance.

The man was spotted riding on the pavement in Newcastle city centre on the morning of Wednesday August 4.

“He had been using the private e-scooter to deliver takeaways but after we spoke to him it emerged he was not insured to drive the vehicle,” said a Northumbria Police spokesperson.

The force has reminded the public that it is illegal to use privately-owned e-scooters in public areas and that if you do so then your vehicle could be seized and you could face a fine and points on your driving licence.

“Public hire scooters are already covered by insurance but you still need to hold a valid licence to be able to ride them and could be prosecuted if your drive them carelessly,” said the spokesperson.

In the modern media, it’s customary at this point in a news story to provide a bit of social media ‘flavour,’ presenting the comments as if they’re somehow representative of widespread public opinion.

We don’t ordinarily do that, because it typically amounts to a load of anti-e-scooter ranting.

However, in this instance, a lot of Facebook users appear to have sympathy for the rider.

“So rather than just have a chat with the lad and give him a warning, you've taken away something he spent hard earned cash on which he was using to make a living and which may land him a day in court at the tax payer’s cost, then bragged about it on social media?” said one. “What an absolute joke. Give that guy back his scooter and give him his warning.”

“Slow clap for the police,” said another. “I feel so much safer now. The lad’s trying to do the right thing and earn some money. A warning for him to get insurance and maybe a fine would have been a more level headed approach.”

This was a common theme – but while saying much the same thing, a third user inadvertently identified the force’s likely motivation for sharing the story.

“Let's be real here, the likelihood that this was an honest mistake is really high. Before now I wasn't aware that you needed a private insurance for a scooter. The ones around town for the public to use has probably contributed to a lot of misconceptions on what you need to own one of them.”