example, the peg might be labeled with the tow car's radio identifier, "Downtown 6" and may be labeled with the vehicle number or data about the capabilities of the specific tow car. It might give a weight capacity, show the unit as a flat bed or cradle snatcher, or mention the unit carries a can of Diesel fuel. The name of the staff on the tow car might be noted. At the start of a shift, the dispatcher would note the unit "available" and time stamp a tag, then hang it on that unit's peg. At the assignment to a call, the call information would be written on another tag and the tag might be stamped at the moment the assignment is read to the tow car crew. The tag would then be hung on that unit's peg. The stack of tags allows dispatch staff to get a clear picture of the status of a small fleet. Some systems use colored tags to show general categories of events such as "available". For example, each unit that is available might have the fact noted on an orange tag. Is anyone available? A glance at the pegboard shows anybody whose tag is "orange" is available. An repossession might use a yellow tag to identify a service call with a safety issue where the police should be called in the event the tow car crew doesn't check in by radio within five minutes. A blue tag might show a resource is taking a dinner or lunch break. A major flaw of this system is that tags can easily be posted on the wrong peg, causing confusion. This can be countered by writing unit identifiers on every tag: a lot of work. In colored-tag systems, it is always possible to run out of certain colors of tags, messing up the system. If two or more resources are sent to the same call, the dispatcher has a lot of writing to do. Plastic icons In a plastic icon system, the blank panel on the communications console or a nearby wall is fitted with a sheet of Velcro. The material has vertical stripes painted on it, making a column for each of several possible status conditions. The simplest system is two columns: available and unavailable. Magnetized icons can be used in place of Velcro. The icons can be coloured or shaped to identify the type of