COVENTRY-BASED former Army regular James Wyatt has developed a new online business to help people who find it difficult to communicate.

He has drawn more than 1,000 phrases in the form of cartoon pictures to help people on their travels abroad do things such as buy a cup of coffee or ask where the nearest chemist is.

Customers can use PocketComms to simply point at a picture and get their message across.

James, an artist and for the past 20 years a professional illustrator, thought of the idea while serving as a TA member of 15 (UK) Psychological Operations Group in Afghanistan as the British Army's only combat cartoonist.

He said: "It all started, during one of my many trips abroad, when I was trying to communicate with a group of teenagers in Kabul, Afghanistan.

"I took out my pen and notepad and started drawing. Soon I had a large crowd of curious onlookers asking questions to which I could draw a reply.

"I found that wherever I have travelled around the world I have been able to get an idea across by drawing a picture. It just made sense to me to put a collection of these drawings together so that others could do so too."

COVENTRY EVENING TELEGRAPH