A NEW service to help firms keep their secrets safe.

Neales Waste Management of Blackburn have launched a new service to dispose of confidential letters, records, data and documents.

"In the wake of incidents such as the Queen's medical records ending up on a waste tip and new laws governed by the Data Protection Act we can now offer a safe service providing peace of mind," said Richard Matthewman.

A specially equipped vehicle is driven to customers' sites which is used to shred confidential material. The equipment is also able to cope with computer disks and tapes.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.