Lembit Öpik, the Liberal Democrat MP, led a convoy of electric scooters at speeds of up to 12.5mph to promote a campaign to allow their use in public places.

Mr Öpik and the Conservative peers, Earl Attlee and the Earl of Liverpool, were joined by a handful of commuters as they set off from College Green, opposite the Houses of Parliament, on Segway Personal Transporters. They rode to the Department for Transport to deliver a letter calling for reexamination of a law that bans the scooters from anywhere other than private land.

Mr Öpik said: “The British Government seems paralysed with indecision. On the one hand, they say that the Segway PT isn’t legal. On the other hand, they are unable to point to a single scrap of evidence in British law to show why they should be banned.

“In truth, the Segway PT is safe, cheap, quick and extremely eco-friendly. They’re a sensible choice for anyone making journeys of up to a few miles.”

Jim Fitzpatrick, the Road Safety Minister, said that any research that showed strong evidence of the machines’ benefits would be considered by the Government.

The scooters, which are virtually silent and have no emissions, are used legally in many European countries and in 45 American states.

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