HOSPITAL staff have welcomed extra cycling lockers as part of a campaign to persuade people to find healthier ways to travel to work.

North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust has invested in 36 secure cycle stores for staff.

Twenty cycle lockers have been installed at the University Hospital of North Tees in Stockton and 16 at the University Hospital of Hartlepool.

A communal cycle store, storing up to 12 bikes, will also be introduced at each hospital for free use by patients and visitors.

The new facilities are the result of a £24,000 grant from the Department of Transport's Cycling Projects Fund .

Some of the money has been used to develop leaflets detailing cycle routes and promoting the benefits of cycling.

The new cycle stores are part of the trust's Green Transport Plan, which it is developing with Hartlepool and Stockton Borough Councils to promote the environmental, financial and health benefits of car-sharing schemes and alternative travel to work.

Both councils have contributed about £2,000 to the Trust Cycle Project and recently, trust staff completed a travel-to-work survey to support the development of the plan.