Police have come under fire for seizing a tiny quadbike that ‘barely goes at walking pace’ from a two-year-old child on a cycleway.

Images show the dinky machine being placed onto the back of a recovery truck after the daredevil toddler was stopped near Tunstall Park, Stoke-on-Trent.

Staffordshire Police were contacting schools in the area to find out if any other children were involved.

A six-year-old child was also riding the bike on the greenway, near Tunstall Park, which does not allow cars and is nowhere close to a normal road.

Police have not said whether the children were being accompanied by an adult when they were stopped on Thursday.

Whatever the case, people on social media have accused officers of taking a heavy-handed approach when having a quick word about the rules would have done the job.

Ian Swift said: ‘Are you having a laugh? I saw these in Tunstall on this quad and it barely went faster than I can walk. Staffordshire Police need to get a grip instead of making themselves look a joke.’

Karl Landon said: ‘They could have just said ‘sorry that’s not allowed here, please take it home but here is a list of places you can use it’. Ridiculous, if you ask me.’

Mark Cooper said: ‘A complete joke. There are no words for this. I bet the police were well chuffed.’

Lawrence Stones said: ‘Instead of taking their pride and joy away, go and find real criminals. A waste of taxpayers’ money.’

Debi Louise added: ‘How ridiculous, like they’ve not got anything else to be doing. You ring 999 and it takes them three hours to come out. Now we know they’re too busy taking quads from two-year-olds.’

But others supported the police’s decision and argued that someone could have easily been mowed down by the two-year-old.

Jason Clarke said: ‘It’s illegal – it’s that simple. I’m sorry, if a parent thinks a petrol quad bike is suitable for a two-year-old then you need to take a serious look at yourself and maybe learn what responsible parenting is.’

Simon Oakes said: ‘If the two-year-old on the quad had collided with another child in Tunstall Park then everyone would be moaning that the police weren’t there to stop kids riding round on quad bikes.’

Phil Davies added: ‘The most worrying thing about this story is the amount of people who think that this is acceptable.’

PCSO Michelle Chadwick said: ‘After calls regarding off-road bikes on the greenway near Tunstall Park, officers have seized a quad bike under section 165 of The Road Traffic Act. The bike was being ridden by a two-year-old and a six-year-old at the time.

‘Appropriate agencies have also been informed and further enquiries are underway with local schools to identify other individuals involved in the incident.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Source: Read Full Article