ALL Automobile Association vehicles will soon be guided to your stricken car by satellite - thanks to a Pocklington public company.

Convergent Telecom, which employs 150 people at Blenheim House near the Pocklington Industrial Estate, has been awarded a contract to fit an extra 2,800 Blaupunkt route guidance units across the remainder of the national AA fleet.

It follows a year-long pilot scheme in which the AA has installed 1,000 DXN Professional Satellite Navigation System units into its roadside and recovery vehicles, cutting down on waiting times for stranded motorists.

Blaupunkt chose Convergent on the recommendation of the AA, for whom the Pocklington company had long offered telecom solutions.

The exact value of the contract is sensitive, given that Convergent already has a larger contract with Centrica, which owns the AA, and commissioned Blaupunkt to do the job.

But what is clear is that the new link with Blaupunkt opens massive doors in other areas, particularly in the drive to speed up call-to-arrival times in the ambulance service.

Health minister Hazel Blears wants all NHS emergency vehicles to be fitted with satellite navigation solutions.

And the initiative has led to £150 million of government funding to install the new technology.

Convergent Telecom, which employs a further 250, including staff at its other base in Farnham on the South Coast and home-based engineers across the country, has already won several contracts to install the Blaupunkt DX-N equipment in NHS emergency vehicles throughout the UK.

Mark Blakeston, Convergent's technical sales director, said: "It's early days yet, but we have been involved in fitting for half a dozen NHS Trusts and more are in the pipeline."

Updated: 10:26 Tuesday, April 02, 2002