A NEW chat bot has been launched on the Swindon Borough Council's website.

Max, he tells you his name when he pops up, is only on a temporary 12 week trial to see if he can help the people of the town with their queries quickly.

According to the council Max will be judged on a range of criteria including if he helps people reach the right section of the website, if they get there quicker and easier than if they used a search engine and if it reduces the need for people to call the contact centre, which will hopefully reduce wait times.

A spokesman for Swindon Borough Council said: "This forms part of the council's drive to improve its digital offer and to support people to use our online process.

"We are looking at all options in the future, which includes more intelligent bots that could add more value to the customer experience."