BEANS means fines - at least they will do if Southampton's leisure bosses have anything to do with it.

A radical new scheme which allows people with overdue library books to pay off their outstanding fines by donating tins of food to charity has been approved by members of the Southampton City Council's cabinet.

It means that during October - instead of forking out up to £3 to pay for overdue library books - you can pay off the fine with tins of fruit salad or mushy peas.

Last year, the city council collected more than £82,000 in fines from borrowers of books, CDs and videos from libraries.

The new scheme will be run for a trial period of a month and aims to persuade the estimated 2,000 people who owe £3 for overdue books to return them.

The idea has been cooked up by city leisure chiefs who borrowed the plan from successful schemes that are already in operation in the United States.

Tins of food will be donated to Basics Bank - a local charity run by the City Mission that provides emergency food and clothing to local families.

As well as supporting a good cause, the scheme aims to ensure that people worried about unpaid fines continue to benefit from the libraries' wide range of services.

City libraries hope the chance of clearing their debt more cheaply will encourage non-payers to settle up.

Anyone with fines above £3 is barred from borrowing further items.

Approving the scheme, cabinet member for leisure, culture and tourism Councillor Peter Wakeford said: "This scheme will be the first of its kind in this country and has already been successfully tried in the United States."

Councillor Sue Blatchford said: "There should be a condition that the food is not out of date. People should not go through their cupboards and bring old cans that have been hanging around for the last 16 years."

Conservative group leader Councillor Alec Samuels joked: "Will citizens be able to pay for their rise in council tax with it?"