Police out to catch moto yobs

The latest weapon in the fight against Wolverhampton's mini-moto yobs has been unveiled - an 80mph police scrambler bike.

The powerful off-road Suzuki will be sent off and on-road to catch nuisance riders who tear around the city's streets and parks.

The £2,700 machine has been supplied and sponsored by All Bikes & Spares in Clifton Street, Chapel Ash.

Police have been bombarded with complaints from residents fed up with youngsters riding at high speeds and causing a danger to themselves and others over recent months.

Dozens of the machines, which can only legally be rode on private areas with the landowner's permission, have been seized and crushed.

Sgt Jon Jackson, of the Bilston Street road policing unit, thanked All Bikes & Spares.

He said until now officers had to borrow scramblers from a central pool, but the new machine would increase officers' ability to respond quickly to complaints.

"We still do get complaints, but they are very few and far between," he said.

"We're well on top of it at the moment.

"But if anyone has any complaints or information that may ne useful to us we'll continue to deal with it with a zero-tolerance approach."

Favoured spots of illegal riders have included Whitmore Reans, Warstones, Bridgnorth Road, the Smestow bird sanctuary and disused railway lines.

Figures released in July revealed that 60 mini-motos had been seized by police officers in a period of just four weeks.

Many of the bikes, which can only legally be ridden on private land, are said to be of poor quality.

Some have brakes which fail after just weeks, putting the rider and the general publiuc at risk.

Officers are warning parents not to throw their money away by buying the bikes as expensive Christmas presents.

Last week, a teenager amazed motorists by dicing with death by weaving in and out of rush-hour traffic on a motorised go-kart in Wolverhampton.

Worried witnesses phoned police to say the 16-year-old had been tearing around White Oak Drive, in Finchfield.

Officers confiscated the youngster's moto.

And in July, a 19-year-old crashed a scrambler bike into a van in Low Hill after ignoring police orders to stop.

By Crime Correspondent Mike Woods