The A390 wheelie that cost a rider his motorbike

A quiet stretch of the A390 turned into a lesson in bad timing yesterday evening, when a motorcyclist chose exactly the wrong moment to show off. He pulled a wheelie in full view of a police officer, and it was the first domino in a run of very bad luck.

Careless riding in front of the wrong audience

St Austell Police say the rider was spotted on the A390 riding carelessly, including performing a wheelie, directly in front of one of their officers. He was stopped, and that was when things got worse for him.

Checks found he was riding on a provisional licence, which comes with its own set of restrictions, and that the bike had a “flipper” number plate fitted. Between the manner of the riding and what officers found once they’d pulled him over, the bike didn’t leave with him.

The flipper plate that made things worse

A flipper plate is a motorised or spring-loaded mount that lets a rider swap, hide or rotate their number plate at the push of a button, usually so it can’t be read by a camera or an officer running a check. Selling the devices isn’t against the law. Using one to obscure or misrepresent a plate is, under the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994, and police forces around the country have been warning riders for years that a flipped plate is one of the quickest ways to get stopped.

How a Section 59 seizure works

The bike was seized under Section 59 of the Police Reform Act 2002, a power that lets an officer take a vehicle being used in a careless or anti-social way that is causing, or is likely to cause, alarm, distress or annoyance to the public. It doesn’t require a conviction first. If an officer sees it happen, or has reasonable grounds to believe it happened, the vehicle can be taken there and then.

St Austell Police didn’t mince their words about it afterwards. “Guessing the moral of the story is that if you don’t want to have your pride and joy seized, don’t draw attention to yourself by riding in an anti social and careless manner.”

📷Credit: St Austell Police