A NORTH-EAST businessman has invented a device which he hopes will adorn toilets all over the world within a matter of years.

Alan Parker, director of a new start-up company, Pan-Active (UK), has invented and is now producing a "self-sanitizing toilet seat".

The seat cleans itself with chemicals after each use and fits over the toilet seat.

It is operated by a mechanical device rather than electricity or batteries.

Pan-Active, based in Evenwood, near Bishop Auckland, has already sold the device to department stores in the region, including Binns, Fenwicks and Debenhams, for use in the toilets in store and hopes the companies will soon use the toilet seat in stores across the country.

Mr Parker said: "We sold the product to Binns in Darlington, where they have installed three, and they said they've had no complaints about the smell of the toilets since we installed them.

"We've heard all the 'bum' jokes already and I know it sounds like a strange invention, but if you think of all the toilets there are in the world, we have an almost unlimited market.

"I think that people do worry about hygiene and smells in public toilets and it does actually take five washes of your hands to completely rid them of all the environmental contamination after you've touched a toilet seat.

"It is a product for the ladies, as research we have done shows that 43 per cent of women squat over the toilet because they are worried about sitting directly on a public toilet seat.

"This alleviates the problem and also sprays the air with a fragrant smell after each use."

Pan-Active has satellite offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia and sales teams elsewhere in the world.

It hopes to market the product in America, where it has already received strong interest.

The units are being developed at a contract factory in China, which can make about 2,500 a month. Once they are shipped to the UK, they are tested for quality in a small warehouse in Newcastle.

In the first year, Mr Parker hopes to turn over about £700,000. He wants to tap into markets such as McDonalds in the hope it will install the product in all its restaurants.

He is also targeting pubs and other businesses in the area.