This is the moment a 'reckless dad' was spotted riding an electric scooter with one hand while dragging a pram down a busy main road - as cars whizzed by. Phyllis Smith was heading home from work on July 11 when she was stunned to spot the scooter rider whizzing down the A117 in Newham, East London, as cars roared past.
The 19-year-old student glared in disbelief as he appeared to hold the handlebars with one hand and the baby's buggy in another, on the busy route littered with supermarkets, schools and offices. It is unclear what was in the buggy - if anything - and many viewers suggested that it was likely empty and speculated he may have been collecting the pram from a second-hand online purchase.
The sales assistant claims the bloke continued down the road as other onlookers watched on with concern. After Phyllis posted the video on social media, her clip attracted more than 1.3million views and more than 60,000 likes and comments from viewers.
Phyllis, from Newham, East London, 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."
Social sciences student Phyllis claims she then showed the footage to her parents who were equally as 'shocked' as the presumed dad or dad-to-be even appeared to be dragging the pushchair by its hood.
Phyllis said: "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."
