Paddleboarders have discovered the wreck of a scooter which has been rusting away at the bottom of a river for 16 years.

Jon Frosdick and his daughter Kaitlyn were litter-picking while paddling along the river Wensum near Hellesdon when they made their remarkable find.

The machine was too heavy and wedged on the riverbed for them to be able to raise it, although they did manage to bring up the registration plate.

A mysterious scooter has been found in the river Wensum (Image: Norfolk Nutrients)

From that, they have discovered that the machine is Peugeot Speedfight which appears to have been off the road since 2008.

Mr Frosdick suspects it has been in the river ever since then and has posted the details on Facebook in an effort to solve the mystery of how it ended up there.

He said: "We decided to do a litter pick as a family because the amount of garbage was astonishing. We found plenty of water bottles and beer cans, the usual stuff.

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"But the last thing we were expecting to find was a 50cc motorbike. The number plate came off in Kaitlyn's hand. 

 

The vehicle was found among a large amount of other rubbish in the river (Image: Norfolk Nutrients)

"I dread to think how it got there. I can only assume that someone took it for a joyride. It's well and truly wedged in under the water.

"It might have been ridden off the back of the Hellesdon meadows. It was right underneath there."

He wants to reunite the long-missing vehicle with its owner and asks anyone who might recognise the license plate V768 DNG to contact Norfolk Nutrients, where he works, on Facebook.