PEOPLE from all over the world will soon be able to trace their Teesside ancestors from the comfort of their homes.

Middlesbrough Borough Council plans to become the first in the country to put its births, deaths and marriages records online.

It will not only enable local people to obtain documents, but also help those from further afield to pursue the popular hobby of tracing family trees.

Although the scheme has already been adopted in Scotland, it is believed that no English or Welsh authority has yet made use of the Internet to store its records.

Robert Wills, Middlesbrough's superintendent registrar, says the council's plan to be the first could pay dividends.

"One of our major businesses is the issue of births, deaths and marriages certificates, and many of our customers are not locally based," he said.

"We have already put a lot of effort into converting the records into an electronic medium and the idea is to put them onto the Internet so that customers can gain convenient access to them.

"For example, a man in Arizona could access his ancestor's birth certificate."

With each certificate representing an income of between £6 and £50 for the council, the website has the potential to generate a massive increase in profits.

It has been planned since 1999, when a feasibility study was undertaken.

Following its positive outcome, an application for grant funding for the site was made in June this year.

As this was unsuccessful, the council will have to absorb the initial costs of setting it up.

Customers will be able to pay for documents by credit card.

l The Northern Echo has had a full Internet service for personal announcements since the start of the year - visit www.thisisthenortheast.co.uk for more details