A Bradford computer firm's business has been given an unlikely sales boost by the foot and mouth crisis.

GLS Software Limited has seen demand for its Vet Master management package soar as vets struggle to cope with the extra pressures brought by the outbreak.

The small IT company, based in Parklands Business Centre, Greengates, has had a 50 per cent rise in weekly inquiries since the disease started to spread.

Chief executive Paul Grattan said he was continuing to field about 30 calls a week from practices all over the country.

He said: "A vet's time is so important at the best of times, but when they are being called on by the Government to work 24 hours a day there's a real need for them to be organised.

"That's where a computerised management system can help, by looking after the everyday workings of a practice and allowing vets to concentrate on being vets.

"Local practices are coping admirably under often impossible circumstances, and we're doing all we can to lighten their load."

Mr Grattan started GLS as a "from home" venture in 1999, and has since seen the business grow sufficiently to take on another five staff.

As a direct result of the unlikely foot and mouth boom, the company is now recruiting another office manager and a technical support worker.

Mr Grattan acknowledged it was strange to be enjoying financial growth during such a disturbing period.

"We work very closely with vets and we know it's a very traumatic time for them," he said. "We don't want to profit from their misfortune - we just want to help them get through this."

Other local businesses, including restaurants and pubs in out-of-bounds rural areas like Ilkley Moor, have not been so lucky since the epidemic started.

And with British meat supplies drying up, many restaurants have also faced higher costs from their suppliers.

e-mail: jim.jack@bradford.newsquest.co.uk