THE telecoms trade could be in line for a shake-up after a Bolton inventor decided to change the way people use their telephones.

Communications engineer Nick Ward, from Bromley Cross, is to launch Record My Call, a service which allows callers to record their conversations.

Mr Ward said: "We didn't realise the value of recording calls until people told us what calls they would like to record.

"These ranged from calls to relatives who live far away to businesses who want to refer back to conversations."

Mr Ward, who set up the service with colleague Peter Fotheringham, said that it will be available to anyone calling from a landline or a mobile phone. Callers will dial an 09050 number, followed by the number they require.

Mr Ward said: "We wanted to make the service cheap and easy to use, without anyone needing a new gadget for their phone."

Ian Palmer, from Bolton-based business advisory service ChamberLink who assisted, said: "When we were first approached by Nick it was obvious that the concept had real potential."