Man’s license suspended for drink-driving on e-scooter sparks debate

İZMİR

In the first incident of its kind in Turkey, police in the western province of İzmir have suspended the driving license of a 21-year-old man over drink-driving an e-scooter.

Saying that a driving license is not required to ride an e-scooter and what the police did was an error, the man, identified only by the initials A.E., applied to the court against his “B” license, which is required for car driving, suspension.

The unprecedented incident happened on May 15, when A.E. hired an e-scooter to return home after having fun with friends.

The police stopped the man and implemented a breath test. As the test result was beyond the legal limits, the police asked the man to hand in his driving license to them. A.E. refused to hand over his driving license, but the police suspended his license for six months and fined him 2,250 Turkish Liras ($131) for “drink-driving” and “not carrying his license.”

“People aged over 15 can ride e-scooters legally in Turkey without a driving license. What the police did was unacceptable,” Seyit Ahmet Akyüz, A.E.’s lawyer, told Demirören News Agency on June 9.

“Maybe they could have held an administrative fine for drink-driving, though we also don’t accept this. But seizing the license is nigh on impossible,” he added.