Mini-moto crackdown to continue

Officers in a coastal town have pledged to continue their crackdown on people illegally riding mini-motorbikes.

Kent Police said they confiscated two bikes during a recent speed check in Rowland Drive, Greenhill, Herne Bay.

They have powers to seize a bike being used to commit an offence or if its use is likely to cause alarm or distress.

Pc Jason Heather said: "We are concerned that the illegal use of these mini-motorbikes may result in injury to the riders or even passers-by."

Following a nationwide Home Office crackdown in 2006 it was revealed that almost a sixth of the 610 vehicles crushed or seized by police in England and Wales were in Kent.

Michael Rickman, an 11-year-old from Darenth in Kent, died in hospital in 2006 after being badly burnt when a mini-motorcycle he was on collided with a car.