BFP hosts crucial millennium meeting

BUSINESS leaders met at the Bucks Free Press offices to discuss the crucial task of tackling the millennium bug before it's too late.

The forum, held on Wednesday, at the newspaper's offices in Gomm Road, High Wycombe, included representatives from banks, businesses, local councils and the South Bucks NHS Trust.

It discussed the possibility that up to 20 per cent of UK businesses could fail as a result of the bug and householders could face problems as machines, such as microwaves, fail to cope with the date change.

The bug has arisen because many computers will be unable to recognise the year 2000. This could disable programmes after midnight on December 31, 1999.

No one really knows the scale of the problem but thousands of machines, such as lifts and air conditioning systems, have computer chips which rely on dates.

Bucks Free Press managing director Sarah McNeill said: "It was encouraging that everyone agreed it was important for big businesses to help smaller businesses and the general public.

"The general consensus was that the Government would have neither the time nor the resources to devote to businesses and the public locally.

"But I hope other firms will follow our example and try to set up a network across the county to tackle this major problem and to make sure we are as ready as we can be for the turn of the millennium."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.