Police inspector and cycling enthusiast Chris Chammings has put his love of bicycles to good use over the last month.

The inspector set the Trowbridge and Bradford on Avon Neighbourhood Policing Teams the challenge of covering more miles on bicycles than they do in cars at the beginning of May.

The results were impressive.

Officers clocked up 2,061 miles on bikes compared to 1,459 miles in cars.

The top cyclist was PCSO James Bates, who covered 223 miles, with PCSO Laura Humphreys (216 miles), PCSO Ben Brown (154 miles) and Sergeant Jim Suter (152 miles) also racking up the miles.

Insp Chammings said: “I initially set the challenge to see what the response would be and it has been taken on 100 per cent by the team.

“Not only has it meant that we did 1,400 miles fewer in cars in May compared to the previous month, it has also resulted in more community engagement as people can see and talk to us more.

“Wiltshire Police is using the Trowbridge sector for a six-month pilot now, before looking at doing it across the county. The increased visibility has really gone down well.”

The Trowbridge and Bradford on Avon NPT teams currently have six bicycles between them and are hoping to get some new specialist equipment with the money saved from fuel costs.