Don’t Even Think About Riding Your ‘Hoverboard’ Around London

‘Hoverboards’ are now illegal to ride in public in Britain, according to Metropolitan Police. The wheeled Segway-esque vehicles have become wildly popular over the past few months, showing up everywhere from NBA locker-rooms to the YouTube and Vine videos of social media stars.

And this isn’t even the first time law enforcement has gotten involved in the craze. In August, rapper Wiz Khalifa said he was handcuffed by officers for trying to ride one of the self-balancing scooters through security at Los Angeles International Airport.

Now, Business Insider reports that the Twitter account MPS Specials sent out a tweet on Sunday night warning that it is against the law to ride the transportation devices on public streets and sidewalks.

The tweet also links to further guidance from The Department of Transport. Basically, due to laws originally enacted to regulate Segway transport, it’s only legal to ride your hoverboard on private property with the landowner’s permission.

However, Simon Benson, of hoverboard distributor Ghetto Gadgets, told The Guardian that the clarification of the law will only raise sales of the devices.

“Clearly customers need to take advice, but millennials are not going to take kindly to the authorities using a law that pre-dates the penny-farthing to tell them what they can or can’t do on the streets of Britain,” Benson said.