diff --git a/notebooks/R/.gitignore b/notebooks/R/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f8b1541
--- /dev/null
+++ b/notebooks/R/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+data/
+.Rhistory
+.RData
+R.Rproj
+.Rproj.user/
diff --git a/notebooks/R/main.R b/notebooks/R/main.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b12ec5d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/notebooks/R/main.R
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+folderIn <- "data"
+
+readNTS <- function(name,folderIn = "data"){
+  data <- read.table(file.path(folderIn,"UKDA-5340-tab","tab",paste0(name,"_eul_2002-2022.tab")), sep="\t", header=TRUE)
+  return(data)
+}
+
+NTS <- readNTS("individual",folderIn)
+stage <- readNTS("stage",folderIn)
+trip <- readNTS("trip",folderIn)
\ No newline at end of file