THOUSANDS of onlookers lined the streets and roads of Teesside to watch the annual charity 'Santas on bikes' motorcade.

It's the ninth year the Boundary 500 Motorcycle Group have taken on the Christmas ride and this year more than 160 bikes took part in the convoy run from Thornaby, though Stockton High Street, Middlesbrough, Redcar and nearby Kirkleatham on Saturday (Nov 28).

Co-founder of the group, Brian Laverick, said he believed more people than ever had come to see the Santa bikers and it is expected that thousands will have been raised for Zoe's Place Hospice and other charities.

Mr Laverick said it was too early to know how much has been raised but the bikers have donated about £193,000 to the hospice in previous nine years and last year raised £29,000. There were so many motorcyclists wishing to take part that the group had to turn people away several weeks ago because the bikers' convoy was already about three-quarters of a mile long.

Mr Laverick said that even Tyne Tees news presenter Pam Royle turned out to enjoy the event.

He said: "It's grown and grown and really it belongs to the people of the North-East now. The number of people who said, 'this is what gets me up for Christmas' was amazing. It's not just us, it's Durham and Cleveland Police, it Redcar, Middlesbrough and Stockton councils and so many people involved in making it happen. And I've never seen such crowds. Down Stockton High Street all you could see was a great mass of hands holding up mobile phones. We had an open-topped bus and it was almost like coming back with the FA Cup or something. There so many wishing to take part it was really something, we could have had many hundreds of motorbikes."