A team of mobile computer boffins has become a fourth "emergency service" for Sussex's gadget fiends and technophobes.

Geeks-on-wheels, in Arundel Road, Brighton, was established at the end of 2003 by Jamie Shaw and Michael Scates to fix people's IT problems.

Since then it has opened a second office in Islington, London, and now employs 25 staff who visit people in their homes across the South-East.

One of the company's main selling points is that no job is deemed too small.

Even if someone can't work their remote control they are willing to help.

Most of their customers are individuals but increasingly small businesses and larger organisations are calling on their services.

This year UK households will spend more than £4.6 billion on technology, contributing to almost one per cent of all domestic outgoings.

This figure will rise sharply over the Christmas period as consumers scramble to buy the latest technological gadgets, gizmos and games.

But, according to Mr Shaw, there are still people who will not be able to install the equipment, despite ever-clearer instruction manuals.

He said: "Our bread and butter is home users. Someone's son has hit the delete key and dad can't retrieve a file or someone's computer has crashed.

"We also get a lot of young women running small to medium enterprises although I would say the split between men and women is probably 50-50."

More than a third of calls are for new PC or Apple Mac owners who need help in setting up their systems and connecting it to the Internet.

Almost 40 per cent are for wireless installations, with other common difficulties being PCs infected with a virus or spyware problems.

Geeks-on-wheels, which operates on a "no fix, no fee" basis, has increased turnover by a staggering 500 per cent in the last year.

That is in no small part down to its 99 per cent success rate and claim that 80 per cent of all problems are resolved within an hour.

Mr Shaw, who used to be IT director at Brighton-based production company Victoria Real, has big plans for Geeks-on-

wheels: "So far we have grown organically but next year we are planning aggressive expansion. We are already talking with investors and retail chains.

"We want to take Geeks-on-wheels nationwide and then into Europe.

"We are the only company doing this seriously - it's not ringing up Fred in the Yellow Pages."

Wednesday, December 14, 2005