Customers at Neil Emms' supermarket probably don't realise their fruit and vegetables are being kept in peak condition by a national sporting champion.

Neil, 26, is British roller skating champion, a title he has held since 1998 and hopes to improve on next month in the European competition.

He is the current British Artistic Figure and Free Roller Skating Champion. If he was skating on ice he would probably be one of Britain's best known sportsmen.

His acrobatics on wheels have won him plaudits all over the country and he now plans to conquer Europe at the championship in Trieste, Italy, on September 8.

His dedication to his sport means a hectic weekday schedule.

Neil works from 7-11 at Sainsbury's in Newhaven, then goes straight to another job at Sussex Internet, the Seaford internet company. After that he meets his girlfriend at Seaford station, goes home for a meal, then spends an evening practising.

Neil, lives in Seaford with girlfriend Sam Drury, 22, said: "When I am not working or practising, I am sleeping. It is a hectic lifestyle, but I am enjoying the work and my roller skating. Sometimes when I get home from practising I just collapse."

Neil had to move from Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, when the national roller skating centre in the town closed.

He was attracted by the facilities at Downs Leisure Centre in Seaford after attending Eastbourne Roller Skating festival two years ago.

He found a top coach in Neil Mallinson, who is also managing director of Sussex Internet.

Neil said: "Although I have had a bit of sponsorship from Sussex Internet, and the internet company Construction.co.uk I have to fund a lot of the training and associated costs myself.

"Hence I have to get up early to work for Sainsbury. But I enjoy the job and working with the public."

Neil has been hooked on skating since the age of nine, when he found he had a talent for the sport.

Today he is the only British roller skater who can perform five triple jumps and is a master at the toe loop, the flip, and the lutz.

He says he would love the sport to be more highly recognised and possibly become an Olympic event.

However, you won't find him skating to the shops or around the store in Newhaven as staff do on the Continent.

He said: "I like to be able to forget about roller skating when I am out shopping and at work, purely concentrating on it in the evenings when I am practising.

"I don't think health and safety regulations would allow me to roller skate around Sainsbury's. I think I would bump into too many people."