Eight police swoop on 3mph grandfather for drink-driving on mobility scooter (but when he was burgled it took them three days to show up)

The 62-year-old didn't turn a hair when a policeman tried to flag him down as he journeyed home after a night out playing dominoes and socialising at a village club.

Knowing that the scooter wasn't covered by the usual traffic laws, Mr Donohoe trundled past the officer and disappeared along the footpath without a word.

But two panda cars and a police van suddenly arrived at the scene as he neared his sheltered bungalow – one of the cars driving over the kerb and on to the pavement to stop him getting away.

Having failed a breath test at the roadside, Mr Donohoe, who had downed six or seven pints, was locked up at the police station for 12 hours, fingerprinted, photographed and had a DNA swab taken.

Magistrates imposed a three- year driving ban when the retired construction worker appeared in court at Chesterfield – but acknowledged that he was free to carry on riding his scooter in spite of the conviction, as he doesn't need a driving licence to use it.

Back in the saddle yesterday Mr Donohoe said: "I can't believe how they (the police) treated me – anybody would think that I was a bank robber or a member of al-Qaida.

"The police are always saying they're short of resources, and then go and employ eight officers arresting someone like me.

"When someone broke into my home and stole my TV and my video two years ago the police didn't turn up for three days, and yet they can drop everything for something as daft as this.

"They must have known, like I did, that the rules of the road don't apply when you're riding a mobility scooter down the pavement at three-and-a-half miles an hour, but it didn't seem to matter one jot.

"I didn't stop at first because I wanted to get home, and I wasn't doing anything wrong. Then a police car turned up all of a sudden, and pulled up right across the footpath stopping me dead.

"A police van pulled alongside me, and another car parked up on the road behind me so I couldn't turn round. It was just like something out of a film.

"There were eight police officers there altogether, and one of them grabbed the keys from the scooter, and said: 'Come on – get off that.'

"When they asked me to do a breath test I said: 'Don't be stupid, I'm an old age pensioner on a mobility scooter – I'm not blowing into anything,' but they insisted, so I had to in the end.

"They actually wanted to put me in handcuffs, but they stopped short of doing it in the end.

"Even so it was bad enough spending 12 hours in the cells and being fingerprinted and having a swab taken from my mouth for their DNA files."

Mr Donohoe, who is handicapped with blocked arteries in his legs and can only walk a few yards unaided, intends to carry on riding backwards and forwards to see his friends at the club at Old Whittington near Chesterfield once a week.

The divorced dad – who has three grown-up sons and 10 grandchildren – said: "I only go out for a drink and a game of dominoes once a week.

"It's not as if I'm going down the pavement swerving from side to side, and putting people at risk. I'm not a danger to anyone doing three miles an hour."

Derbyshire Police said that officers believed that Mr Donohoe was drunk when they saw him riding towards his home at 11.20pm on April 20.

A spokeswoman added: "He failed a breath test when he was stopped, and was charged with driving a mechanically propelled vehicle while over the limit.

"We cannot comment on how many officers dealt with the incident, but a person driving any kind of vehicle when they're drunk are a danger to themselves and other people as well."