A former National Health Service manager from Shipley is enjoying a business boom after putting the human touch back into answering telephones.

Janet Alderton has tapped into growing public hostility towards automated systems by starting her own "people-only" agency for businesses in the district.

And the return to the human voice, courtesy of a six strong team of "tele-secretaries" at her Rocket Ansa-Call company, has proved a shrewd move.

Mrs Alderton, who is managing director, said: "Companies from all over the place seem to be hearing about us and getting in touch, and our existing customers are asking us to do more and more. It seems that when you ring anywhere these days you never get live operators but end up in loops of automated recordings, which is very frustrating.

"But I think things are now going full circle and we're getting back to people insisting on speaking to people again."

The mother-of-one set up the business in Shipley after leaving her NHS managerial position to apply the skills she had picked up doing a Masters degree in Change and Innovation. As well as fielding queries and passing on messages, the company gives out information and advice on behalf of its clients and screens sales calls.

Smaller clients like Karen Jeffery Associates, a Liversedge-based sales recruitment company which has used the service for a year, give the live approach a definite thumbs-up. Owner Karen Jeffery said: "It is far better to be put through to a person instead of a recorded voice, and their services for me have been second to none.

"The response has been good from my customers, too, because the girls are very friendly and find out what the callers are looking for.''

For telecommunications consultant Nick Kay, of York company Taylor Kay Associates Ltd, the difference since enlisting the help of Rocket Ansa-Call has been dramatic.

"I'm with a small business which deals with some major clients, and I'm out of the office a lot of the time," he said. "Before, when people rang up they just got an answer machine, which wasn't very professional. But now they think I've got my own team of secretaries.''