NCA managing director Laurie Leader said the system, developed in partnership with AT&T, was currently being piloted at Ford closed sales at NCA's Colchester headquarters but the aim was to expand the system to all auctions. 'The only piece of paper is the invoice,' he said. 'For customers, both buyers and vendors, it's a more efficient system as you have not got to wait for paper to move around the building. From a vendor's point of view we can accept information electronically or, if they do not have that ability they can take the car onto the site and details will be put onto a computer without pens and paper.'

Information on in-coming vehicles is collected by NCA staff using a hand-held computer pre-loaded with CAP data on makes, models, derivatives and colours. Optional features and damage are also recorded. The auctioneer can tap into the information via a rostrum terminal. The auctioneer's assistant has access to information on all the cars and can pass on the results for invoicing and production of bar-coded passouts.