'Hoverboards' are illegal on both pavements and roads, CPS confirms

The Metropolitan police has warned prospective hoverboard owners not to ride their scooters on public streets

Bad news if you like gliding down the street like a low-rent Marty McFly: "hoverboards" (also known as self-balancing scooters) are illegal to ride in public in Britain, according to guidance released by the Crown Prosecution Service.

The wheeled vehicles, which are an evolution of the infamous Segway "personal transportation device", are too unsafe to ride on the road, but too dangerous to ride on the pavement, according to legislation. As a result, they are only legal to use on land that is private property, and only with the landowner's permission, the CPS says.