COMMUNICATION at Royal Ascot will be put in place with military efficiency - thanks to the services of a York firm which is providing hundreds of walkie-talkies for the event.

Telecommunications firm SiteLink, based at Upper Poppleton, has won a £10,000 contract to supply the top racing event with 500 two-way radios.

The deal is one of the biggest orders received by the firm, which boasts a £6 million annual turnover.

As well as the walkie-talkies, SiteLink will also install 12 base stations at the racecourse.

SiteLink general manager Ian Ritchie said: "It's a very prestigious event. This is quite a big deal for us - but we're confident that everything will go well."

The firm, which supplies radios to major businesses in York such as Nestl and Jarvis, now hopes to supply more radios to Royal Ascot at future meetings.

Royal Ascot spokesman Nick Smith said the racing event always used walkie-talkies for its staff, including caterers, security guards, pressmen and general managers.

He said: "It's such a massive operation that we can't always rely on mobile phones if the networks were to go down or get congested.

"We couldn't afford to have the whole exercise grind to a standstill because the networks have gone down - which they do quite often at Royal Ascot.

"Obviously this is a major event for the York economy. Where we have been able to, we have been minded to support that local economy.

"It's good to use a local firm for this - obviously most of the race day staff will be local."

Meanwhile, visitors to Royal Ascot will be able to stay in splendour at the Hilton Hotel, York, which has invested £200,000 in guest room and suite refurbishments for the event.

Guests will be given wine and mineral water in their rooms and handed a present when they leave.

Staff will be kitted out in new uniforms and a new la carte menu will be launched.

Updated: 11:42 Tuesday, May 24, 2005