A high-tech satellite tracking system being used by AA Tyre Fit's mobile fitting units is cutting response time by10% to 44 minutes. The system, which was piloted by AA breakdown patrols in the M25 area, will be rolled out across the UK fleet this month.

Called AAHelp, it uses satellite-positioning technology to monitor the precise locations of the company's fleet and calculate the fastest routes to destinations.

David Goodyear, general manager of AA Tyre Fit, says: “We carry out a combination of planned tyre fitting and emergency call out work. In both instances, the system allows us to plan with the most efficient routes and timetables for our mobile fitters.”

The move is part of the comp-any's plan to take 10% of the UK's tyre market by the end of 2004 and become the country's largest tyre distributor within five years by going entirely mobile.

Goodyear expects AA Tyre Fit to be running 500 mobiles by 2007 round the clock. These will be directed from a national call centre in Coventry which is now trialling job handling software due to go live in September.