A Wisbech man with mobility issues who used an e-scooter to get around was caught riding it while almost twice the legal alcohol limit.

Alexsandr Cembukov, 56, was spotted by a police officer going from Lynn Road into De Havilland Road, said prosecutor Qaram Iqbal.

“The defendant rode towards him with his legs on the scooter, using its own power to move," he said.

“He subsequently stopped the defendant, who appeared unsteady on his feet and smelt of intoxicating liquor."

Cembukov failed a roadside breath test and was arrested.

He later blew 67 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, the legal limit being 35.

He appeared before Peterborough Magistrates’ Court yesterday to plead guilty to drink-driving.

Rebecca Keogh, mitigating, said it seemed odd that her client riding a scooter capable of 12.5mph should be treated as the same risk as a car driver.

She told the court she had seen paperwork which came with the £399 scooter.

“None of the documentation relates to the legal side of it,” she said.

“He, like a number of other people I suspect, was ignorant that it falls within the definition of a motor vehicle within the Road Traffic Act.

“Whatever the rights and wrongs, he shouldn’t have been over the limit driving the scooter and he was.

“He doesn’t have a vehicle, he doesn’t drive a vehicle.

"The only thing he wants to drive is something which assists him with his mobility and it seems the disqualification is going to have a big impact on him being able to do that.”

Cembukov, of Cotterell Way, Wisbech, pleaded guilty to drink-driving and was disqualified for 12 months.

The ban can be reduced with completion of a drink-driver rehabilitation course.

He was also given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £85 costs and £22 victim surcharge.

The charge comes after a police crackdown on the illegal use of e-scooters throughout June.

Police in Wisbech stopped three e-scooter riders in Wisbech in one night.

The Neighbourhood Policing Team issued one rider with a Section 59 warning, and the other two were children.

The parents of the two children stopped were contacted and given in-person advice on the current legislation around e-scooters.

It also comes after a 78-year-old woman suffered horrific injuries after being knocked over by an e-scooter rider in Wisbech town centre.