A TEAM of Kent police officers are swapping their beats for the open road as they prepare for a charity bike ride in aid of leukaemia research.

Accompanied by another retired policeman, the four intrepid officers, all based in Maidstone, have just begun training for a 250-mile ride to Paris at the end of June.

PC Dean Tring, who is co-ordinating fundraising for the team, said: "We got involved through a friend whose young son has leukaemia.

"They set up a committee with friends and parents of children with similar illnesses to raise money specifically for research into cures. We felt this bike ride would be a really good way to lend a hand."

PC Jim Watson, DC Duncan Pallett, PC Dave Taft, PC Colin Grant and Norman Firth will set off from the Lockmeadow Entertainment Centre in Barker Road, Maidstone, which is sponsoring the event, on June 28.

During their three-day ride, the team will arrive in Beauvais, which is twinned with Maidstone, in time for a special festival celebrating the town's heroine Jeanne Hachette, who rallied townsfolk to withstand the siege of Beauvais in 1472.

Cheques made payable to The Leukaemia Research Fund, should be addressed: c/o PC Dean Tring, CRU, Maidstone Police Station, Palace Avenue, Maidstone, Kent ME15 6NF.