Moped rider burns up the streets – literally

From Ananova.com 30/03/10:

A James Bond fan fed up with drivers cutting him up on his moped invented the ultimate gadget to gain his revenge - a 15ft flamethrower.

Colin Furze, 30, from Stamford in Lincolnshire, spent a month converting the 60mph sports scooter in his back garden.

"It's a lot of fun and when I fire the flames out the back it makes me feel just like James Bond," said Mr Furze.

"The flames are pretty big and up to 15 feet long so you could definitely set fire to someone's car if you wanted to.

"The only problem is it can get rather hot if you are riding the moped and blast the flames when the wind is in the wrong direction."

But he added: "I've been told that if I fire the flames while riding on the road it's equivalent to using a fire arm and I could be in a lot of trouble," he said.

Wow. If I found myself driving behind him, I think I’d find myself a lay-by to pull into pretty sharpish.

And it’s not just ‘being in a lot of trouble’, for his homemade flamethrower being equivalent to a firearm that he’ll have to worry about; off the top of my head, I’d say he’d be caught by s6 of the Road Traffic Act 1991 amongst many other things.