Talk of identity fraud, along with embarrassing stories in the news about sensitive, confidential information being found lying about the countryside, sparked a Witney couple to set up in business. Two months ago Ian and Diana MacKay sank their savings into a document shredding machine mounted on a lorry.

They saw all those heaps of paper, tapes, CDs, DVDs, faulty goods, magnetic media, and even uniforms, which take up valuable space in homes and offices everywhere, as potential piles of gold dust - and not just for criminals bent on stealing identities.

Now former Business Link consultant Mr MacKay drives his lorry over an area covering a 40-mile radius of Witney, literally tearing all those criminal opportunities to shreds, while former IT consultant Mrs MacKay mans the telephone.

Mrs MacKay said: "We have already taken on a sales executive. Now we are looking for a driver too.

"The trouble is that my husband is out on the road so much that there is little time for all the other work involved."

The informative website created by Mrs MacKay also announces that the service extends to Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, North Wiltshire and West Berkshire.

So could the couple be on to a winner here? Certainly such mobile shredding trucks have long been in high demand in USA and in Canada.

Mrs MacKay said: "In Ottawa alone they now have 300 shredding trucks. And what works in North America usually works here."

Mr MacKay added: "The truck alone cost in excess of £100,000 and we have simply got to make it work and earn its keep. There's no alternative.

"Starting the business, even as a former business consultant who has been trained to ask the right questions, is a salutory reminder of just how hard it is to go it alone.

"I take my hat off to all those who try."

The company charges by weight at a rate which works out at about £5 per archive box with a £40 minimum charge to companies.

The Home Office reckons that identity fraud is now costing the national economy £1.7bn a year. Its Identity Fraud Steering Committee defines identity fraud as: "stealing your personal information and then pretending to be you".

It adds: "This is often done by taking documents from your rubbish or by making contact with you and pretending to be from a legitimate organisation."

Criminals armed with your personal details then use them to open bank accounts. or to get credit cards, loans, state benefits and documents. such as passports and driving licences in your name.

Mrs MacKay said: "Sometimes it is necessary to keep documents for a certain length of time, but there comes a point when you have to destroy things."

The law demands that accounts and tax records are kept for six years.

Allshred's customers come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from the widow clearing a study after the death of her husband, or the children of elderly parents clearing the house, to large companies.

Then there are the offices of doctors, solicitors, accountants, insurance brokers, and schools.

Mrs MacKay said that the company did not yet have any contracts with police, health authorities or government departments.

She said: "We hope that will come when we have been in business a little longer."

But why does anyone need Allshred? Why not simply go out and buy a shredder yourself?

One reason is that the truck can destroy larger quantities of confidential information and then take it away immediately, baled up and ready to be recycled as household tissue.

Mr MacKay said: "Our shredder gets through about 1,500 kilos an hour. With most office machines you would be lucky to do 30 kilos."

The whole shredding operation is carried out in front of the customer, to give him or her peace of mind.

Speaking as someone who once received a telephone call from American Express informing me that someone claiming to be me was walking around Amsterdam running up thousands of pounds on my credit card, I can well believe Home Office figures showing that identity fraud crime has risen from £1.4bn to £1.7bn since 2002.

Of course, it is as important for companies to ensure they abide by the Data Protection Act over matters of confidentiality as it is to guard themselves against identity fraud.

Then, for some, there is also the question of destroying documents to avoid industrial espionage.

All in all, keeping documents securely is a problem if you are to ensure that your own, employees' or customers' personal details are not to fall into the wrong hands.

But getting rid of those documents is another problem - one that Allshred is turning to good account. Such is the way of the world.

Contact: Allshred 01993 830629, www.allshred.uk.com