BUSINESSES in East Lancashire face disaster from the Millennium computer problem, a survey in the area has revealed.
A study carried out by Lancashire Enterprises found that as many as 17,500 companies in the county could be at risk.
Less than one in five of companies surveyed had done anything to check that their computer systems are Year 2000 compatible.
Experts fear systems not able to cope with dates after 1999 will crash and cause chaos.
"This is not a computing problem - it is very much a business problem," said David Taylor, chief executive of Lancashire Enterprises.
"Any system that uses dates to process data could be affected. This might be for payroll, invoicing, stock control or even computerised systems which control production lines or access to buildings."
Lancashire Enterprises has launched a programme to help companies address the problem, funded by Lancashire County Council and the European Regional Development Fund.
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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