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Gardai were out early on Thursday morning bizarrely catching people on their way to work riding electric scooters.

With a recovery truck at the ready, the gardai had loaded up five scooters on the back of it just after 8am according to one eye witness.

They told Dublin Live: "Gardai are taking people off their scooters as they go to work."

The law on E-Bikes, Pedelecs and Battery Powered Scooters are as follows: "Regardless of the type of bike, the rule is as follows: if it can be powered by mechanical or electrical power alone (i.e. it can go without you pedalling or scooting it) then it is considered to be a mechanically propelled vehicle (MPV).

"Under Road Traffic Law, if an MPV is used in a public place it is subject to all of the regulatory controls that apply to other vehicles i.e. it must be registered, taxed and comply with both lighting and vehicle construction, equipment and use regulations (i.e. be roadworthy, have the proper brakes and lighting etc.).

"In addition, the driver of the vehicle would have to hold the appropriate driving licence and be insured to drive that vehicle."

The video shows a garda in discussion with an owner of a scooter who the witness says was "handed a piece of paper by the garda" following the seizure.

The witness continued: "The garda was stopping everyone on scooters on Kevin Street.

"One man was so angry about getting the scooter taken off him that he slammed the scooter against the wall but I did not get this on camera.

"It’s disgraceful, next you will need insurance for a bicycle."

In a statement to Dublin Live, a spokeswoman for gardai said they "seized a nine bot electric scooter for [having] no insurance in Kevin St Upper on April 18 at approximately 7:40am".

However, they had no records of any other seizure at the time of contact.