Skateboarder Remi Barban has £650 drink driving case thrown out after court rules he wasn't a road user Remi Barban, 33, was arrested by police officers who spotted him weaving from side to side on his battery-powered board Barban pleaded not guilty, convinced he was not breaking the law Magistrates ruled in his favour saying skateboard does not count as a motor vehicle A reveller accused of drink driving has escaped punishment after magistrates ruled he wasn't a 'road user' - because he was on an electric skateboard. Remi Barban, 33, was picked up by police officers after they spotted him dangerously weaving from side to side on the road riding his battery-powered board. The website developer was stunned when police arrested him and charged him with drink driving. Mr Barban knew he had had one too many, but was convinced he was not breaking the law by hoping on his skateboard home. Cleared: Remi Barban, 33, pictured with his electric skateboard, was found not guilty of drink driving after magistrates ruled that an electric skateboard is not a type of motor vehicle It took a pointless court case - costing taxpayers a whopping £650 - for an official decision to be made on whether the remote controlled skateboard should be classified as a motor vehicle. Magistrates deliberated for 90 minutes before deciding Barban was not a 'road user' and as a result could not be found guilty of any driving offences. Presiding magistrate Stephanie Challinor said: 'We're not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that a reasonable person would say one of its users would be a road user.' Mr Barban, of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, took to his skateboard after being banned from driving for 20 months last November. Bury St Edmunds Magistrates" Court heard Mr Barban was found with 86 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath when he was stopped at just after 11.30pm on May 17. Prosecutor Sarah-Jane Atkins said police spotted Mr Barban 'weaving from one side of the road to the other'. Miss Atkins had argued that the motorised skateboard was 'really akin to a Go-Ped [an electric scooter]'. Legal wrangle: Eightball, the manufacturers of Mr Barban's electric skateboard, do warn their customers it is 'not legal' to ride an electric skateboard on a UK public highway Mr Barban pleaded not guilty to driving with excess alcohol and driving whilst disqualified at a previous hearing and was found innocent on Tuesday. He claimed the fact that he was on the road was an 'isolated case' and that he felt 'obliged' to ride on the road because there was no pedestrian crossing nearby. Mr Barban told magistrates: 'Probably because I didn't have all my sense, I forgot that there was a crossing further down the road.' The not guilty verdict came despite other courts previously ruling that Segways, Go-Peds and electric scooters all count as motor vehicles. Eightball, which manufacturers the board, say on their website it is 'not legal' to ride an electric skateboard on a UK public highway. The wrangle over whether a skateboard counts as being motorised or not is estimated to have cost £650 in court costs. The TaxPayers' Alliance today said a 'silly' amount of time and money had been wasted on Remi Barban's case. Cheif Executive Matthew Sinclair said: 'A silly amount of court time and money has been wasted on debating the nature of a skateboard. 'It's difficult to believe that this issue could not have been solved before going to court. Drink driving is a serious offence but this absurd case appears to demonstrate a lack of common sense from those involved.