Police put brakes on outback skateboarder

A man has been issued with a ticket for riding a rocket-propelled skateboard on the main street of a western Queensland town.

Police in Barcaldine, east of Longreach, spotted the skateboarder on Oak Street.

District officer Inspector Michael Fawcett says the man was not wearing a helmet and officers were surprised to witness the dangerous incident.

“They noticed him activate something that looked like a rocket that was attached to the rear of the skateboard,” he said.

Rocket Board“When they did actually catch up with him, he’d actually duct taped a small rocket to the skateboard and was using that to propel himself down the road.

“I understand the rocket was commercially available. On talking to the officers there, they didn’t notice that it made a whole heap of difference to his speed.”

Inspector Fawcett says he has never heard of anything quite like it before.

“There is funnily enough a ticket for using a rocket-propelled vehicle on a road and I suspect this might be the only ever ticket issued for that particular offence in Queensland,” he said.

“The bottom line is that we’ve got someone riding a skateboard at night, on the main road, no helmet, in probably a dangerous situation.”

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