East Lothian pensioner has mobility scooter confiscated after dangerous driving

Robert Cockburn, 77, was spotted using the wheelchair in an erratic manner by riding the vehicle at “grossly insufficient speeds” and at night and without displaying any lights in May this year.

The retired bus inspector drove the power chair recklessly by swerving across the carriageway into the path of oncoming cars forcing motorists to take evasive action to avoid a collision.

The OAP was also said to have repeatedly attempted to re-enter the roadway despite being told not to during the incident on the coast road between Port Seton and Longniddry in East Lothian. Electric wheelchairs can typically travel at speeds between four and eight miles per hour.

Robert Cockburn, 78, was spotted riding his electric wheelchair in the dark without any lights or reflective materials on the coastal road between Port Seton and Aberlady in East Lothian, on Monday, May 19. | Alexander Lawrie

Cockburn pleaded guilty to culpably and recklessly operating the electric wheelchair in the hours of darkness when he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month and was remanded in custody. He was back at court for sentencing on Tuesday but was unable to enter the dock due to being confined to a wheelchair and sat at the side of the court room.

Defence agent Victoria Good said her client, from Port Seton, East Lothian, had been on remand for four weeks and was “very vulnerable” in that setting.

Sheriff Francis Gill said: “Mr Cockburn, you have pled guilty to driving with culpable and reckless conduct. Your behaviour put your own life, and those of other road users, at risk. It was extremely fortunate nobody was injured. This is a matter the court takes this very seriously.”

Cockburn was placed under social work supervision and issued with a restriction of liberty order where he must wear an electronic tag and stay within his home between 7am and 7pm for six months. The sheriff also took the unusual step of granting the Crown motion to confiscate the electric wheelchair.

Cockburn first hit the headlines when he refused to use his mobility scooter on the pavement and regularly held traffic up by trundling along the same coastal road in 2017. Cockburn defied angry motorists by claiming he was not breaking any law and that the police were powerless to stop him travelling on the busy road.

In 2023 Cockburn was jailed for 212 days when he admitted to a series of sexual offences - including exposing himself to children - carried out over a 14 month period.

The pensioner flashed his genitals to women at a supermarket and asked adult men for sexual favours when he repeatedly attended at a public toilet in Musselburgh, East Lothian. He also exposed his genitals to two schoolboys aged 12 and 14 and asked them to perform a sex act in him at the same public convenience.

He was handed an ASBO banning him from entering any public toilet building in East Lothian but after his release from prison he soon began breaching the order last year. Cockburn was seen within the public convenience near his home in Port Seton where he would sit on the toilet in a state of undress with the door open so members of the public could see him.

A second incident at the same location soon after saw the repeat offender smear faeces on the walls of the toilets. He also deliberately watched men while they urinated at toilets at the capital’s Waverley train station and exposed himself to women at a dental clinic in Prestonpans, East Lothian.

Sentence had been deferred on several occasions for the possibility of Cockburn being re-located to a care home but the court was told no facility was prepared to accept him as a resident. He was eventually caged for eight months and placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years in September last year.