The IMS Response call centre at Steeton is playing a vital role in providing emergency call support for farmers and the public during the foot and mouth disease outbreak. IMS has been appointed to help by the British Cattle Movement Service, part of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fish-eries and Food, which was set up after the BSE crisis to maintain the high standard of British beef.

BCMS was immediately able to provide help and advice when the foot and mouth virus struck.

The BCMS operation in Cumbria annually receives more than 200,000 calls, but has been stretched to its limit with the growing number of inquiries over foot and mouth. IMS Response has now been appointed to help ensure that information and advice is available to all callers.

Partnered with BT, IMS Response has increased the number of specially trained operators taking BCMS calls by 50 per cent. It has set up a 30-strong helpline team at its state of the art, 250-seat operation in Steeton.

IMS has also set up an automated call answering service to receive high volumes of calls and, where appropriate, direct callers automatically to standard information lines.

This allows calls of a general nature to be swiftly dealt with and frees operators to deal with more specific inquiries.

Greg Smith, client services director at IMS Response, said: "We have the flexibility and the technology to turn around requests at very short notice. We were well aware of the urgency of this crisis and within eight hours had the system up and running and our call team in place.

"The most immediate problem was to alleviate the pressure on the BCMS call centre in Cumbria, and to ensure that all the calls were dealt with in a sensitive and professional manner."

BCMS call centre manager Jon Langan said: "Since the foot and mouth outbreak, calls have gone through the roof. Our own systems and staff have been straining to cope with the huge demand.

"We appointed IMS Resp-onse because we knew of their experience in running emergency helplines, such as the Flood Alert service they provide for the Environment Agency.

"They were able to meet our requirements within an incredibly tight timescale, and we have been pleased that with their help we are able to provide a quality service to help Britain through this crisis."

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