A BOLTON police officer's pioneering scheme to help deaf folk in the town is being introduced across the Greater Manchester area.

In January the BEN revealed PC Stuart Ashall's idea for special fax sheets which deaf and hard of hearing people could use to contact police in an emergency.

The hi-tech concept was given a trial run as a pilot project involving up to 200 disabled people in Bolton.

It was hailed a success by those hard-of-hearing folk who used the system and it has caught the eye of police chiefs in Greater Manchester.

Now impressed police bosses have decided to introduce the system across Manchester to reach out to tens of thousands of deaf people.

The form includes personal information and requests details of incidents so the police can assess how serious the incident is to prioritise the call-out.

They will be used to report every kind of incident including burglaries, missing people, or serious road accidents where people have been injured.

Non-urgent calls can also be reported such as thefts, missing pets or minor damage.

A reply will be sent back within five minutes telling the deaf person what the police's response will be.

The faxed requests from deaf or hard-of-hearing people will be received on a dedicated fax machine at Greater Manchester Police's (GMP) area operations room.

PC Ashall, former crime prevention officer and now schools liaison officer in Bolton, said: "The idea came about when I went to a job about 15 months ago.

"The complainant was involved in a domestic dispute but because she was hard of hearing, couldn't make herself understood to me.

"I noticed a fax machine in her kitchen which she didn't think she could use to call for police assistance."

The emergency fax concept has been welcomed by representatives of the Royal National Institute for the Deaf.

Spokesman Mary McFadyen said: "We're delighted that GMP has set up this system to help meet the needs of deaf and hard of hearing people who want to communicate with them.

"It's a good example of the co-operation that exists between GMP and the deaf community."