Mobile offices are the ideal solution for stressed-out executives with too much work and not enough time. Damian Barr meets the road warriors who have said goodbye to life behind a desk.

Any time, any place, anywhere. That's the mantra of "road warriors", freed from the office by mobile phones, laptops and PDA's. There are almost two million mobile workers and telecommuters working in the UK, according to the Institute of Employment Studies.

Peter Phillips is a road warrior. He runs his Company, Phillips Presentation Products, from a souped-up, de luxe Mercedes V Class. His mobileoffice (complete with trained driver) pulls up at his home at 7 am and returns him around 6pm. "It is more like being on a train," he says. A soundproofed train with leather upholstery and tinted windows.

Two people can work comfortably in the mobileoffice and four people can fit in it for a meeting. "It is great for meetings because the chairs face inwards, so you can make eye contact rather than shout in someone's ear," he says. A smooth diesel engine stops the coffee - brewed onboard - from spilling on his spacious desk. Fortunately, Phillips does not get car sick.

Most meetings are held on the phone. "I do a lot of conference calls using a headset so I can work on my laptop at the same time," he says. Seven rooftop aerials guarantee one of the three mobile phones onboard will get a signal.

"I used to waste so much time trailing all over the country - easily 25 hours a week," says Phillips, whose Perivale based business employs 50 people. It produces, among other things, the bid red books for This Is Your Life. "I never stop travelling but I don't waste any time."

Since revving up his mobileoffice nearly three years ago, Phillips has cut the hours he works and visited his clients more often. "I used to work late answering Emails and doing paperwork I couldn't get done during the day because I was travelling," he says.

His Company office is now a pit-stop for catching up with colleagues. "I drop in every week to see people face to face. That contact is really important," he says.

On the whole, Phillips is happier and more productive alone in his mobileoffice. "There is no one there to distract me - I achieve more and get home earlier."

The cost of converting a vehicle into a mobileoffice depends on the specification. "It can cost up to £18,000," says Phillips, who recouped his costs after finding he no longer needed a PA. "Now I use my travelling time to answer all my calls and Emails myself," he says. And, as the Inland Revenue has yet to consider road warriors, his mobileoffice is totally tax deductible. Some of his clients are so impressed they now have their own mobileoffices. Phillips has started a Company to meet the demand: www.mobileoffices.co.uk.

Phillips has successfully banished business downtime - those frustrating moments when you can't get a signal on your phone, a plug socket for your laptop, or access to your Company extranet. "The amount of business travel downtime accrued by UK business travellers over a year is equivalent to staffing and running a company the size of Body Shop for a year," claims Patricia Rubio, small business manager at Orange.