Millennium bug bites one in 14 UK businesses [a whopping 7%!!]

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

LINK: The Independent London via CNNfn

Millennium bug bites one in 14 UK businesses
Source: The Independent - London

ONE IN 14 British businesses - 7 per cent - were hit by the millennium computer bug, the first official Government survey of the problem showed yesterday.

A further 2 per cent suffered from higher wage costs and a slump in demand. But one leading expert said it was too early to say the millennium had had little effect on corporate activity

A survey of 1,114 companies carried out by the Office for National Statistics in the week to 10 January found that 74 firms were affected by problems relating to the millennium date change. The main casualties were 33 businesses that suffered from computer problems, with 15 having to pay their staff more over the holiday period and 22 citing low customer demand.

The largest negative effect was in the retail trade. Although only eight out of 122 business were affected, the victims made up more than a quarter of total sector turnover. A further 20 per cent of the hotel and restaurant trade reported problems.

That figure is likely to be have been boosted by a computer problem that hit 14,000 credit-card machines, supplied to shops by the banking giant HSBC. The machines read January 2000 as January 1900 and refused to process transactions.

The survey also showed that companies with more than 10 employees suffered more problems than smaller firms. Robin Guenier, head of executive director of Taskforce 2000, the independent bug watchdog, said the results were in line with his predictions.

But he added: "The first real test will be when people come to their end of month results and they look back over items such as payrolls and taxation which will cover two centuries at the same time.

The ONS plans to repeat the survey every week until the end of February. "Care must be taken in reaching conclusions from such a small survey," it warned. The fact that Y2K computer problems failed to materialise is seen as a factor behind Thursday's decision to raise interest rates. Analysts said that fear of spreading panic ahead of the new year was the only reason why the Bank of England did not move in December.

Publication date: Jan 15, 2000
) 1999, NewsReal, Inc.

-- It's Me (Not@here.com), January 18, 2000

Answers

You forgot this part ...... "7% admitted. So far."

>"<

-- Squirrel Hunter (nuts@needanew.address), January 18, 2000.


Further, 7% have discovered and admitted, so far.

-- Servant (public_service@yahoo.com), January 19, 2000.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ