MEN fed-up of waiting in long queues have had their prayers answered thanks to an innovative web cam system at a barbershop.

The Men's Room on Warrington Road, Culcheth has a live camera linked to its Internet website that shows customers how many people are waiting to have their hair cut.

Barbershop owner Andrew Meechan, aged 37, from Woolston, designed the website and installed the camera.

He said: "We have a lot of customers from Risley and Birchwood who come down during their lunchtime, but sometimes they would walk away when they saw we were busy.

"This makes it easier because they can log on to the website when sat in the office, see the seating area and how busy it is and work out how long they would have to wait."

The barber, who has been running The Men's Room for 16 years, believes that the web cam helps the flow of business because it flattens out their quieter moments.

He said: "As far as I know we are the first barbershop to do this. You could say we're at the cutting edge!"

Customers can view the web cam at www.mensbarbershop.co.uk.