SERGEANT Kenny Brown is in the driving seat of a new bid by Strathclyde Police to reduce its carbon footprint.

The force is the first in the UK to add a Vectrix electric scooter to its fleet. And Sergeant Brown is part of a team of officers trained to ride the scooter, which only needs an hour to charge up to full power.

The Vectrix will be used by officers to control traffic around Glasgow Airport. It has no carbon emissions, but can still reach speeds of up to 62mph.

Sergeant Brown said: "It's very smooth, accelerates quickly and is quite manoeuvrable and stable.

"Instead of going to a petrol station, you just plug it into a socket. An hour's charge will do a full shift of running about the airport, so it's ideal for our use, and very quiet and very clean."

Inspector Colin Pearson, chief of Glasgow Airport Police Unit, added: "We have two other motor scooters just now which are both petrol driven.

"They are coming to the end of their life, and we felt that to go for the green option would be the proper thing to do."

Picture: Mark Gibson