The 11th of October was a sad day for ‘Swegway’ owners in the UK. At 9.46am a tweet from MPS Specials announced that it is illegal to ride hover boards on footways, meaning you basically can’t be rollin’ round in public anymore.
Although the boards are classed as motor vehicles, they are banned from roads because they do not meet licence and registration requirements. As riding a vehicle on the pavement has been illegal since 1835, it’s basically a massive lose-lose situation.
Distraught Segway enthusiasts, who had recently purchased their hover boards for upward of £200, took to twitter to tear apart the law, whilst official petitions popped up overnight on sites such as Parliament page and Care2. For others, it was just a great excuse to bring back some of the best segway fails and unsurprisingly there were a lot of ??? involved.
In fact, the only place it is legal to ride a Swegway is on private property with the landowner’s permission. So, um, have fun riding around your back garden…