Father Christmas uses a sleigh to get home after a long night of delivering presents, but supermarket workers will be using a bike to reach Lapland.

Members of staff at Tesco in Shenley Road, Borehamwood will be sharing stints on a static bicycle to clock up enough miles to get to Santa’s home this weekend.

The team, who are taking part in the national challenge with colleagues in stores across the country, hope to help raise £10million for Cancer Research.

Community champion for Tesco, Marion Naylor, who will be taking part in the challenge, said: “I was really inspired when I heard about this so I was keen to take part.

“It is a fun way of raising money for such a touching cause. I am really excited to start cycling actually, it is a great way to stay in shape just before Christmas and raise cash at the same time.”

The money, to be raised by Tesco staff, customers and suppliers, will help fund 42 vital early diagnosis research projects across the UK.

The team will be cycling from Friday, December 7 to Saturday, December 8 from 9am to 6pm. Shoppers have been invited to cheer them on and donate cash.