AN ALARMING report has revealed that nearly half of all day trippers from the North West got sunburned around Britain last summer.

And these figures could be set to increase, with some weathermen predicting a repeat of 1976 when a drab May was swiftly followed by a long heat wave.

The survey by Superdrug is part of a campaign to encourage people to take care while sunbathing in this country and warn them of the damage done to the skin by the sun's rays which is the cause of most skin cancers.

There has been a dramatic increase in the numbers of skin cancers in Britain over the last few years, most strikingly a 70 per cent increase in young adults, and 40,000 Britons are expected to contract the disease in 1996.

Yet in the face of such worrying statistics, the report revealed that a massive 70 per cent of people in the North West ignore instructions on the bottle when they do apply sun lotion and over half spend less than £5 on sun care products every year.

It could mean they are not using enough lotion or using old products.

The campaign also aims to hammer home the message that a good quality high sun protection factor sun care product, with high UVA and UVB protection is vital for sun seekers.

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