An East Yorkshire inventor has tapped into support from the Manufacturing Growth Programme (MGP) to launch a new product that will prevent the loss of change, keys and bank cards under car seats.

John England came up with the ‘car seat gap filler’ early one morning — after thinking of all the time he had spent trying to recover lost items — and set about designing a simple device that consists of an inflatable tube connected to a hand pump.

‘Cabung’ (www.cabung.com), as it is now branded, is easy to fit and remove and can be personalised to improve the look “of any car”.

He turned to MGP (www.manufacturinggrowthprogramme.co.uk) for support with R&D, plus the packaging and artwork to make sure that the product stood out, and this resulted in a point-of-sale unit that was used for the first time at the London Motor Show in May.

Mr England said: “I approached a company to help shape my idea into something that could be manufactured. I wanted something that would go in most cars, was easy to fit and remove and would be aesthetically pleasing.

"It was great to receive support from the MGP’s James Smith, who identified where the challenges existed and brought in design specialist Lee Taylor to work with us on making the brand packaging stand out — and provide a couple of early-stage samples for presentations.

"I also received advice on pricing and routes to market, not to mention how we could reduce the manufacturing cost to provide even better value for money for consumers.”

Cabung, which has been endorsed by former racing driver Tiff Needell (pictured centre) and model Jodie Kidd, is located at the Hull Microfirm Centre and is on course to sell over 1,000 units this year.