With only 400 days to go to the Millennium, Action 2000 is cracking down on reckless businesses in the South East which are continuing to ignore the threat of the Millennium Bug.

More than 49 per cent of businesses in the South East have still to commit resources to the Year 2000 issue, and many still believe a quick fix is around the corner.

Gwynneth Flower, managing director of Action 2000, said: "The Millennium Bug is a very serious business issue, and too many firms are still sitting back expecting an easy answer to the problem to suddenly appear next year.

Believe me when I say there will be no quick fix to the Bug miraculously appearing - why else have some businesses been spending millions of pounds over the past few years working to resolve the problem?

"Our message to businesses which are not taking this seriously is simple. If you do not start finding out about the Bug and acting on it now, you will potentially be facing the closure of your business in 2000.

"What you do within your own business will affect your customers and suppliers and their actions will affect you. Companies should work together and share information on their Year 2000 programmes before it is too late."

To date, more than 51.5 per cent of all adults have seen the Action 2000 billboards an average 28 times, nearly 100 per cent of targeted business people saw the press advertising and 67 per cent of targeted adults were reached through TV commercials.

So far, more than 750 businesses have signed up.

Ms Flower said: "Action 2000 provides all the information people need to set up and start working on a Year 2000 programme. People can either call our action line on 0845 601 2000 or check out our web site - www.bug2000.co.uk - all the information is free."

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