This is the very moment a “reckless” father was spotted riding an electric scooter while towing a pram along a busy main road.
Last week, Phyllis Smith, 19, was driving home from work when she was startled to see the man riding along the A117 in Newham, east London, while cars drove by.
He looked to be holding onto the scooter’s handlebars with one hand while dragging the baby’s pram behind him with the other, as the social sciences student watched in bewilderment.
Despite worry from a number of bystanders, the man appeared to be driving carelessly on July 11 as he passed numerous supermarkets, offices, and schools.
Video captures the man making the strange journey while appearing to be wearing flip-flops, a green t-shirt, and shorts.
It is unknown whether a baby was in the pram at the time.
The video received more than 1.3 million views and more than 60,000 likes and comments when Phyllis posted it on social media.
She said: ‘For some weird reason, he was on the road. I don’t know why. I was walking home from work and there was literally a guy on a scooter using his one hand to push the pram. He was just scootering across.
‘Anyone in the area would know that road leads to the A13 so it actually leads to a motorway or if you carry on straight, you’re in a bus lane.
‘In those circumstances, I was so confused as to why he did that. He just carried on down the road.
‘He was just going straight ahead. He was in the bus lane the whole time. The whole thing is just not safe. It was an interesting sight to say the least.
‘When I showed my parents, they were shocked too. It’s not something you see on a regular basis. It made me feel concerned.’
Phyllis, who works as a sales assistant away from her studies, said her parents were equally as ‘shocked’ when she showed them the footage.
She added: ‘I had to zoom in to film him. People were just looking. I was looking at people like “are you seeing what I’m seeing?”.
‘He’s not even holding the handle of the pram – he’s holding the hood area. I’m going to assume from what the comments are suggesting that he might have bought it online for collection.
‘On TikTok, some people were saying maybe there wasn’t a baby in the pram, but the point isn’t the baby, the point is why is he using a pram while riding an electric scooter on a main road?
‘Sadly I was unable to make out whether it was bag or a blanket [in the pram], but from my memory it looked a blanket of some sort.’
Users on TikTok had mixed reactions to the video, with some speculating that he might have simply been picking up the stroller from an online seller.
One viewer said: ‘That’s a reckless man.’
Another added: ‘No way there’s a baby in that pram… please tell me there isn’t.’
A third said: ‘Guaranteed the mum is at work non the wiser! Thinking her precious child is safe with their dad!’
Rental e-scooters are now being tested in London as City Hall looks at innovative and environmentally responsible ways to reduce traffic in the city.
E-scooter rentals are the only permitted method of transportation on London’s public streets, and they are only available in a few boroughs. Using privately owned electric scooters on a public road is illegal.