Hydrogen scooters are to be trialled by the Metropolitan Police to reduce emissions.

From today (September 4) seven Suzuki "Burgman Fuel Cell" hydrogen scooters will be trialled for 18 months to attempt to reduce the Met's carbon footprint.

The scooters, to be used by community support officers (PCSOs) and based out of Alperton deployment centre, are on loan from Suzuki and are in line with the Mayor of London's work to tackle issues with London's air quality.

Commander Neil Jerome, for Territorial Policing, said: "Being the UK’s largest police service we constantly have vehicles on the roads and therefore it is our aim to make our fleet as clean as we can, whilst maintaining operational capability.

"We are thankful to Suzuki and our partners and look forward with optimism about this innovative and groundbreaking trial.

"Through collaborative partnerships and innovative testing such as this, we can gain real-life experience of how we can progress our ambition and create a cleaner fleet that will benefit London and the service we provide."

The trial is free for the Met due to the loan of the vehicles, with maintenance and fuel costs met by a collaborative project, part-funded by the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC), with British fuel cell company Intelligent Energy acting as lead partner.

According to Intelligent Energy, the scooters can be refuelled in minutes compared to long charging times for many electric vehicles.