THE ability of the Internet to give small firms the chance to compete with the big boys on the global market has given a firm near York a major boost.

Niche brick maker, York Handmade Brick Co Ltd, based at Alne, has harnessed the power of the web and scooped international orders worth £60,000 - the equivalent of 100,000 bricks.

Chairman David Armitage believes this is just the start of what could be a very exciting new market for the firm.

He said: "The beauty of e-commerce is that it gives small companies the opportunity to compete on level terms with far larger organisations.

"The shop window, which we can literally offer the world, is clearly of great interest to users."

The two orders have been supplied to sites in Sweden and California.

Mr Armitage added: "Neither of these contacts had ever heard of York Handmade until they surfed the net looking for unusual individual-character bricks. Our national market becomes a global market."

The firm, which has just updated its web site - www.yorkhandmade.co.uk - received the sales boost as a result of its original site.