SUPERMARKET shoppers are being given the chance to do their bit for the environment - by taking their groceries home by bike.

In a pioneering move, Tesco at Catterick Garrison is to introduce a "bike hod" scheme, providing trailers to carry shopping, which can be towed home by bicycle.

The scheme operates in just a handful of stores across the country, with the newly-opened North Yorkshire store chosen as the next in line, following the creation of 12km of cycle paths around the garrison.

Cyclists will pay a small registration fee to join the scheme and have a special tow hook fitted to their bikes.

When they reach the checkout, their shopping will be loaded into the hod, a steel frame holding a plastic container, which is then fitted to the back of the bike. Shoppers will be given three days to return the hod.

The scheme will be run as a partnership between Tesco, Richmondshire District Council and the Army, which will be asked to promote the initiative among military personnel and their families.

The council is also looking at the possibility of creating hod parks, where the hods can be left to be collected by supermarket staff, without customers having to return them to the store.

Patrick Earle, council planning unit manager, said the possibility of promoting cycle use among shoppers had been considered when the supermarket was in its development stage.

He said: "The garrison is ideal for a scheme like this, because of the cycle network, and Tesco has decided to try and use this resource.

"It is entirely consistent with the council's objectives of starting to roll back the increase in traffic.

"The received wisdom is that the only way shoppers can use the Tesco store is going by car, but this is saying there is an alternative, and hopefully it will catch on."

A Tesco spokesman said: "With the recent opening of 12km of dedicated cycle paths around the new store, it is the ideal location for a bicycle hod.

"Customers will be able to use a viable, sustainable green form of transport - and get fit into the bargain.