A YORK document services company was today celebrating its key role in this year's biggest municipal postal ballots in England and Wales.

DocQwise Business Services Ltd of Station Rise, has won an exclusive contract to design, print and deliver multi-lingual pre-election information cards and ballot packs for up to 522,000 electors within Leeds Metropolitan.

The six-figure contract - among the biggest ever won by the company - covers information cards and ballot papers which will be used in the European Union, metropolitan district and parish council elections.

It has meant Docqwise making a £224,000 investment in variable data printing equipment, taking on extra staff and working a 24 hour shift system.

Jan Eskildsen, DocQwise managing director, said: "We are delighted to have won this contract, which is part of our continuing success and which would have gone out of Yorkshire if we had not been successful"

The contract follows other local government contracts completed in Darlington and Bradford by DocQwise, which also works for government bodies including Learndirect, The Department for Work and Pensions, the DTI and the Employment Service.

DocQwise, which also has offices in Leeds, Derby and Leicester, offers a range of document and digital-print related services as well as distribution from its own mailroom and security shredding.

Updated: 10:35 Friday, June 04, 2004