You’ve got to hand it to evolution, it’s the most incredible process, species adapting over time in response to their changing environment.

Whether youngsters glued to games controllers will ever develop giant thumbs or husbands’ selective hearing will develop to the point they no longer hear their wives is open to question.

But what worries me is the folks prematurely losing the use of their legs by constantly climbing aboard mobility scooters. The result is swarms of these pesky people carriers darting dangerously around shopping centres and ploughing along pavements.

Some people gain much-needed freedom from these mobility aids, but plenty more are simply taking the lazy option and denying themselves vital exercise.

I’m increasingly seeing perfectly healthy, fit people jumping off a scooter seat to skip into shops, pubs or the post office.

I’m not suggesting ever-more-rapid evolution will suddenly cause scooter users’ limbs to wither but it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy that underused leg muscles will become less effective.

Britain is now scooter capital of Europe with at least 350k out there and some experts estimating as many as 400k. The only time I’ve seen one in either France or Germany they were being driven by English holidaymakers.

'Some people gain much-needed freedom but plenty more are taking the lazy option and denying themselves vital exercise...'

Being developed to go faster, they now have rear suspension and shock absorbers at the front. And this brings me to another point, the paraphernalia they carry from small rat-like dogs in baskets to full loads of shopping and luggage. Last week I saw a bloke with his golf clubs strapped to the back of his cart.

And the worst ones are those where their owners turn them into mini greenhouses to protect against the drizzle by enveloping them totally in polythene – visibility becomes non-existent and they’re even more lethal.

Okay, pimping rides doesn’t necessarily make them more dangerous, in fact adding a multitude of wing mirrors might be beneficial, and covering them in flames, flowers or go-faster stripes might even make them more visible and give you less chance of being mown down, but it’s not a good look.

They used to be designed to carry the frailest in our society but now they’ve been redeveloped and the sturdiest monsters are capable of carrying anything up to 40 stone.

Next time you’re out and nearly flattened by one ask yourself if that person really needs to be riding a scooter?

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