A NORTHWICH personal trainer has decided to branch out and is pedalling his way to a brand new career.

Paul Dean, 35, who has been a PT at Pure Gym for the last five years, said he was inspired to look at more environmentally friendly ways of earning a living with the end result being 'Pauls Cycling Services' - a cycle-based delivery service.

Having never driven a car, Paul explained how he has always relied on bikes as his preferred mode of transport and owned his first cargo style trike several years ago, which he used to take his three children to and from school.

He said: "The idea's been brewing for a while now.

"I've never really driven so back when my kids were younger I had to think how I could get the kids to and from school, so I started using a trailer before I upgraded to a cargo trike.

"As the kids got bigger, add-ons were made and it got a point where it was all too much so I went for the biggest thing on the market, which is what I'm using for the bigger deliveries now.

Northwich Guardian:

The business idea came after long chats with one of his good friends, who recently followed Paul's lead and ditched his car in favour of pedal power.

Paul added: "He's a really big environmentalist and you know how it is when you become mates, your ideas generally melt into each others.

"When the coronavirus happened, everyone started to struggle and it was just a case of having a look elsewhere and see what other services I could provide.

"I decided to try and find the most unique thing I could think of to do and see what happens.

"So with having an environmental interest and biking being a thing I've been doing forever, it made sense to mix the two.

"I just wanted to push the envelope and prove you don't actually need a van or a car if you're willing to make the change."

Northwich Guardian:

The specially adapted cargo allows Paul to move 'pretty much anything' and so far he's moved everything from mattress to a three seater sofa, but he has his heaviest challenge to come.

"I'm picking up a big two metre long welding bench tomorrow from my fabricator in Knutsford and bring it back to Moulton so I'll see how far I can go with it, he explained.

"The thing for me is to see how far I can push it with bikes.

"I've had a lot of good feedback off it already, which is nice.

"People who are buying things online, for example from Facebook Market Place, and they're just too big to go into their cars.

"Obviously you get a lot more things being delivered by bike in cities, but I want to try and see how it works in smaller towns too.

"Running costs on a bike are obviously a lot less than what they are on a bike."

Paul is hoping to branch out in the coming weeks by using the smaller of the trikes in his fleet to offer a click and collect service to those who struggle to get to supermarkets.

He added: ""With many delivery slots already taken, I'm hoping I will be able to do these for them as long as it's within range.

"We don't want your ice-cream going soggy."

Paul can be followed on Facebook.