A MEDICAL team has hit the road in a bid to urge people across the North-East to keep ahead of cancer.

Consultants and nurses are behind a series of roadshows across Teesside, South Durham and North Yorkshire this week.

Nurses are on hand to offer advice on awareness of head and neck cancers and to hand out leaflets to members of the public, who also have the chance to win a prize.

Surgeon Richard Wight, from North Riding Infirmary in Middlesbrough, said: "Nearly seven and a half thousand people will be diagnosed with head and neck cancer this year in the United Kingdom, and Teesside has a particularly high incidence."

He said that many people were aware of the symptoms for a considerable time before they approached their GP - and this made treatment more difficult."

The new drive is resumption of a campaign, Look Ahead to Save Lives, launched in 1999 to make people more aware of the warning signs and symptoms which could indicate the cancers. Heavy smoking and drinking are known risk factors, but doctors said early detection is the key.

Consultant surgeon Colin Edge, from Middlesbrough General Hospital, said: "While these diseases are still most common in older men, we are concerned that the incidence is rising in younger people, mainly due to the increase in the number of young people smoking and drinking."