Sorry, chaps: cruising through London on your hands-free, seatless, self-balancing “hoverboard” is a thing of the past. The self-balancing scooter—a two-wheeled travel device that lets the rider eschew walking while standing upright—is illegal to use on any public road or sidewalk.
The scooters are like Segways without handlebars, dubbed hoverboards because they give the impression of gliding effortlessly over the road. (In fact, they have wheels.) More and more people in the UK and elsewhere are using them in place of bicycles, skateboards, the Tube, or the traditional practice of walking to the places they want to go.
But London’s police service has had enough.
Yesterday, the police tweeted a link guidelines on the use of all “self-balancing scooters.” Be it a Segway, hoverboard, or similar variant, the guidelines are clear: it is illegal to ride them on roads and public footways.
Enthusiasts can still hover to their hearts’ content on private land, provided they get the owner’s permission.