Portsmouth's Voi e-scooter scheme extended until 2024

The e-scooters are available for hire in Portsmouth using a phone app

An e-scooter trial in Portsmouth has been extended.

The Voi scheme - first launched in March 2021 - will continue to run until 31 May 2024.

The decision has been taken by Portsmouth City Council and comes as the authority revealed that the use of e-scooters across the city has increased by 65% over the past seven months.

The same trial in Southampton has also been extended for an extra 18 months.

Councillor Lynne Stagg, cabinet member for transport in Portsmouth, said she was happy to approve the extension of the trial.

She said she hoped that with more evidence from all over the country the Department for Transport (DfT) would "come up with some legislation".

Under current rules, e-scooters can only be used on public land through council-run schemes.

The government is expected to bring forward legislation on e-scooters in this parliamentary session.

At a meeting on Thursday, councillors in Portsmouth were told that almost 60,000 people have used the e-scooters in the city since the trial started.

Concerns were raised around the findings of a survey through which most respondents said they had a negative view of the scheme.

But councillors said this was because the survey was voluntary and that people more favourable towards e-scooters were less likely to take part.

Data collected by Voi as part of the Portsmouth trial showed there had been 252 accidents involving the use of their e-scooters up to September 15, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Similar Voi trials are being run in a number of other cities, including Birmingham, where an extension to May 2024 was approved last month.