Alisdair Anderson and George Breese were both stopped by the police to give roadside breath tests, after which they were arrested. Anderson gave a reading of 62mcg and Breese 51mcg in 10ml of breath. They both failed the test, as the UK legal limit is 35 mcg.
The 21-year-old students have both pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol and were banned from driving for 12 months and fined £120 each along with £85 costs and a £48 victim surcharge.
The prosecutor Lilian Yanes Hellevik stated that the police found Anderson driving the e-scooter on Osborne Road at around 12.20am on January 18th.
According to the Chronicle, Ms Yanes Hellevik said: "They could see the defendant was moving from the pavement to the road and swerving in the middle of the road, they stopped the defendant and spoke with him. He told them he had been drinking. He was arrested after failing a roadside breath test,"
Michael Gibson, defending, said Anderson is an economics student in his final year at Newcastle University. He added: "As he was walking back from town with friends in the early hours of the morning, they came across these orange scooters. The idea came to them collectively to ride them. He didn't know it would be treated the same as if he was driving a vehicle. He rides it for one or two minutes until he's stopped,"
He didn't know it would be treated the same as if he was driving a vehicle
The other student, George Breese, was caught by the police on Sandyford Road on January 19th.
Sophie Allinson, defending, said Breese felt embarrassed to end up in court. She said: “These scooters are parked up in student areas and next to the nightlife. It’s not well publicised that they are under the same legislation as a motor vehicle,”