A LUDGERSHALLL man who used his train commute to design an app has finally seen his creation used by customers.

Dave Tuplin began designing the Pocket Waiter app in November 2017 and last month the tool got its first outing at The Goa in Everleigh.

Having been a customer at the Indian restaurant on a number of occasions Dave was pleased to see his invention used in real life in his local eatery.

Speaking after the trial, he said: “It was pretty cool, I spent most of my time not having to help people.”

Fourteen customers across four tables used the app throughout the night, with many pleased with the process.

The idea behind the app is that when customers are in a restaurant they can order food and drink which is then printed out to staff or displayed on an iPad.

“Most of the people there had never seen it or touched it so they played with it. On one of the tables one of the customers was delighted, he placed his order and the drinks arrived at the table within minutes.”

And it was not just the customers that enjoyed the experience but staff at the restaurant also jumped onboard with the idea.

“At first it was taking a little while but after the first three or four tickets they [the waiters] figured out a process to send it out to the table.”

Following the night Dave said he has had to sort out “a couple of glitches”.

“Then we are going to redo it in a couple of weeks once I have got this fixed,” he said.

One of those is sorting out how to delete individual items, which was a suggestion from a tester on the night.

Dave has said that it will not only benefit those who want to use the app, but those who also wish to have more interaction with restaurant staff.

“There was a lady who was over 50 who said I don’t think I would use it, I like the personal service, but I said to her that when everyone else is using the app you can get hold of the waiters. You can just benefit from it that way.”