John of Gwent
Where Lembit Opik Leads, Halal Chicken Follows
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Written by John of Gwent
Regular readers may recall that many months ago I lambasted Lembit Opik for his clear and deliberate flouting of the law in using a "Segway" electrically propelled vehicle in a public place. It seems that a former IT worker turned halal chicken delivery boy is now using one equally illegally in his hot food delivery business.
The problem, as those au fait with such matters will surely know, is that these "infernal horseless carriages" fall neither into the class of bicycle nor electric vehicle.
The exact details are available on the BBC website which details Lembit's crime. In brief, because they cannot be "pedalled" they fail the legal definition of bicycle, nor can they squeeze into the EU directive that defines a "Pedelec" such as my own Giant Lafree Twist which looks like a Raleigh 20 but steers like a cow yet achieves 17mph or more on the flat courtesy of motorised assistanceto my pedalling effort for 25 miles or more provided by the crankcase motor and large NICAD batery pack.
Unlike my "Pedelec" which to the uninitiated is visually indistinguishable from a "shopper pushbike", the Segway has no lights, and no brakes. It does not, and cannot,meet the construction and use requirements laid down for all carriages under the Highways Act and therefore it is not legal on british roads or pavements. It is as simple as that.
Lembit Opik and a number of other parliamentarians and peers wilfully broke the law when they used these "vehicles" in a public place.
Now it seems 30 year old Abdul Alim, a former IT worker (one of those Blair encouraged to come here with his illegal fast tracked visa scam no doubt) has set up a takeaway chicken company - he trades as "McAbduls" for god's sake - and he and his employees break the law six or seven times nightly delivering "halal to go" to the local area.
The vehicle in question does 24 miles on a charge and costs a cool £4,000. It's US inventor killed himself while riding an "off-road" version from which he fell, breaking his neck.
