A WINCHESTER man claims his 'world first' product will sell billions of units across the globe.

Nick Davis created the self-sealing silicone castor wheel cover to prevent the contamination of castor wheels in high level hygiene environments.

He said: “It is such a simple idea, as the best ones often are.

“I was very surprised when the patent search came back confirming that I am the first person on the planet to patent this idea."

Nick owns the UK patent for the product and has multiple patent protections in other oversea jurisdictions, including the USA, China, South Korea and Japan.

The covers are dishwasher safe and come in a five different colours: white for clean room applications, orange for safety, metallic silver to mimic stainless steel for aesthetic considerations and grey to match industry standard flooring colours.

Nick said: "The cover is now a completed project designed for a cost-effective manufacturing process with a marketing programme, with a motivated sales force and a resilient client base.

"Given potential licensees’ current business profile the only capital investment would be the tooling costs and the cover is designed for a one step fully automated manufacturing process to save on those costs.

“An independent review of the markets forecast sales of 94bn+ units worldwide.”

Nick's product has also gained the support of Kevin Gosling, the environmental health manager at Winchester City Council.

Mr Golsing said: "This concept seems to be a great idea. Throughout my career, when undertaking routine food hygiene inspections, I have seen many a wheel on moveable equipment that is dirty even within premises where there are strict controls on cleaning.

"If this design has the ability to keep a difficult area clean it can only be good for the food industry and any other industry that uses equipment with wheels.”