An e-scooter trial for Great Yarmouth and Gorleston has been a hailed a success after nearly 10,000 people registered to use them.

Since its launch in April, Great Yarmouth Borough Council’s e-scooter trial has doubled in size.

The council partnered with authorised e-scooter operator Ginger, which initially provided 35 e-scooters and 50 parking bays for the trial. Now, the trial has a total of 70 scooters and 65 bays.

In the six months since their introduction to the borough, the e-scooters have been used on 41,500 journeys by 9,900 registered users.

Paul Wells, chairman of the council's environment committee, said: “E-scooters are a fun, affordable, greener way of travelling short distances within the borough, such as to work or college.

“Whilst the trial is ongoing, we’d like to remind people that the use of private e-scooters remains illegal in public places.

“The incredibly high level of engagement with the trial that we are seeing in Great Yarmouth shows that organised deployment of scooters, with a focus on safety, mandatory parking and affordability, is of fantastic benefit to local communities."

The trial, which saw an average journey length of 35 minutes and is said to have consequently saved approximately 20 tonnes of CO2, enables users to travel through residential areas and key commuter routes within Great Yarmouth, Gorleston and Bradwell.

Both seafronts and other key employment areas, such as the James Paget University Hospital, Northgate Hospital, the Harfreys and Gapton Hall industrial estates and South Denes are also within the trial zone.

Ginger has also extended its free rides programme for NHS staff, emergency service workers and members of the armed forces until December 31, 2021 - allowing two free journeys per day.

Every user must be aged 16 or over and hold a provisional or full driving licence.

The first time they ride, the user needs to photograph their licence, and submit a selfie with it, to verify it is theirs with Ginger blocking adult users who provide a scooter to an underage person.

Those aged 16 or 17 are required to complete an online e-scooter training course before they can ride.

Journeys can be hired via the Ginger Shared Transport app, costing just £2 per 20 minutes.

Find out more at www.great-yarmouth.gov.uk/e-scooters.