PC HEATHER Bilton has hit the headlines with her new vehicle.

Emblazoned with florescent police markings and blue flashing light, I must admit my Vespa paled a bit against her dynamic little bike, a 50cc Honda moped.

From a distance, the moped - with a top speed of 30mph - looks similar to a police motorbike, which has caused a few problems.

Heather, who is stationed at Peterlee, said: "Cars daren't overtake me. The other day I had ten cars following me down a country road. It was ridiculous. It was like a posse, so I pulled in and let them overtake."

She admits she has been teased about her new mode of transport, but has no intention of upgrading to something faster.

At 1,100cc and weighing in at roughly 16,000lb, the police motorbikes are too heavy for some male officers.

But the little machine has made large waves in her patch of Haswell, Haswell Plough and South Hetton, where it has helped build bridges between young people and their beat bobby.

"I've had a lot of positive response from the parish council and the kids absolutely love it - they think it's great," she said.

"I parked the bike outside our office.

"All the kids came knocking at the door, asking what speed it did and asking to see it go."

I tried out the scooter to see how it compared to a Vespa, made famous by the 1960s scooterboys.

The "twist and go" vehicle was deceptively easy to ride.

Unfortunately, there was no screeching round corners with a blue light flashing. It has a restricted speed of 30mph and, at that time, the light was disconnected.

Starting the automatic bike involved no more than pressing the ignition button and accelerating away.

For someone who regularly wrestles with a Vespa's clanking clutch, this was a blessed relief.

In the stability stakes, it again blew raspberries at my vintage-style model, which has the engine positioned over the back wheel and can be difficult to handle in strong gusts of wind.

As well as being much lighter than my own scooter, the moped was big enough for an average-sized adult. But the restricted top speed was definitely a minus.

The zippy bike definitely had a lot going for it, but valuing style over substance I decided the Vespa just had to be the winner