WATER cooler maker Ebac is looking to take its home delivery service global, after North-East trials proved a success.

The company, based in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, is more than doubling the workforce for its Bottled Water Direct division, in order to meet soaring demand across the region.

The innovative service, launched last week, aims to make water coolers as popular at home as they are in offices.

Take-up has been five times higher than the business plan anticipated, prompting the firm to speed up plans to expand it across the UK - turning it into a multi-million pound operation.

Tony Hird, director of Bottled Water Direct, said: "We have caught the mood of the North-East at the right time and are getting a distinct message that people want this service. Logistically, there is no reason why we can't roll it out nationally and internationally. We just have to get all our soldiers in line.

"Once we have developed the model, Ebac has the resources to scale it up."

It estimates each UK household that signs up will generate sales of £300 a year.

Mr Hird planned to have 1,000 North-East customers by the end of the summer, but now believes that figure could be trebled.

On mainland Europe, mineral water sales are three times higher than in the UK.

The group was set up in 1972 by John Elliott and sales are more than £30m. It employs more than 350 people, mainly in manufacturing, and exports about 70 per cent of its products.

Ebac has the infrastructure in place to cover the Continent. It made its name as a water cooler supplier for businesses and has 50 per cent of the European office market.

Mr Hird said: "I have absolutely no doubt that it could be bigger than the office water cooler business."

UK sales of supermarket-bought bottled mineral water have more than trebled in the past five years, and the biggest domestic growth area in the market has been for multi-packs of 1.5 litre bottles.

This means shoppers are ferrying 9kg of water a time from the shelves to their homes. Ebac's service aims to cut out the fetching and carrying, plus save them fridge space.

The company invested £500,000 in developing a home water cooler and created 12 jobs. It has now taken on an extra 12 call centre staff and four drivers.

The first delivery of water ran out this week, as people flocked to take advantage of the company's free trial offer.

A second order of 11,250 litres from its Italian supplier, Sincera, will arrive today.