Gloucester and Cheltenham are part of a year-long national trial into e-scooters.

The trial, which started this week, will see e-scooters available for hire through registering via the app from operators Zwings.

Gloucestershire County Council is supporting the Department for Trial trial after local authorities were invited to host the scheme, but the operation is being run by Zwings.

A statement on the council website said: "Gloucester and Cheltenham have been chosen for the trial as they are Gloucestershire's biggest town/city centres, with large numbers of residents, visitors and businesses who might benefit from having an alternative way to get around.

"Both areas also have high levels of congestion and poor air quality as a result, so trialing a clean, green method of making short journeys would improve pollution."

Riders must be at least 16 or over and have provisional or full driving license to ride and e-scooter and license details are needed to hire an e-scooter as part of the scheme.

Only e-scooters which are part of the scheme can be ridden on the road and cycle paths as long as they are following the Highway Code.

The council website said: "Police are supportive of a trial to see if we can find news ways to travel around cities and urban areas that are sustainable.

"They understand the difference between rental Zwings scooters that are part of the scheme and any other kind of scooter, which remains illegal to ride.

They cost £1 to unlock with a charge of 15-20p per minute. Scooters will only work in the trial area.