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A Teesside taxi firm is set to launch Pokemon tours, after gamers started ordering cabs purely to catch the virtual creatures.

Blueline Cars will roll out the £20 tour this week, taking passengers to Teesside’s most popular Pokemon Go “hotspots”.

Driver Dave Harris is the tour’s brainchild, and came up with the idea after someone caught a Pokemon in the back seat of his taxi.

“I then noticed that more and more passengers were requesting taxis just to catch Pokemon,” said Dave, of Ettington Avenue, Park End .

“People were paying up to £15 a time just to go and catch a Pokemon.

“You can find yourself driving along and someone will just say ‘stop’ or ‘turn around, there’s a Pokemon over there’.

“It’s a bit chaotic - you can hear them in the back getting excited and you sometimes think god almighty - but really I think it’s fantastic.”

Currently, the route is expected to take in Middlesbrough’s Albert and Stewart Park, which have proved a hunting hotbed since the game’s launch last Thursday.

And Dave added: “mima will be on the route, and it will also head down Redcar seafront as that’s really popular with players.

“Places like Eston Square and even the hospitals will be on it - its mainly the landmarks where most of the Pokemon seem to be.”

Dave, 60, isn’t among the millions who have downloaded the phone app to date.

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However his family’s hooked, with the grandad-of-seven adding: “Even my 32-year-old son is playing it.

“When I noticed that even my children, and not just my grand kids, were playing it I realised this was going to be huge.

“That’s why we want to be first on the act, everyone at Blueline is buzzing about this - it’s too good a thing to pass up.”

Boss Waseem Khalil said even he is hooked on the game, and feels the demand is definitely there.

“We’ve already had calls from people saying if they will take them on a Pokemon tour,” he said.

“Basically you are hiring the car for £20 for the hour, and we will take you wherever you need to catch them,

“From my experience playing the game, they can pop up anywhere and everywhere so we will take you wherever you need to go.”