Taskforce 2000: Stay at home for a month

Taskforce 2000 boss Robin Guenier stood by his remarks about travel over the millennium period Wednesday, despite criticism from the travel industry.

Guenier is advising people to stay at home from Christmas until the end of January "unless travel is absolutely necessary". His remarks follow the release of a Foreign and Commonwealth report on international millennium-bug preparedness.

Guenier denies the charge of scare-mongering. "Prudence suggests travel is not a good plan. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has produced a great deal of data and some of it is pretty awful," he said. "There is so much uncertainty, why put yourself in harm's way?"

A spokeswoman for the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) said Guenier is wrong. "We are disappointed with his response and urge people to look to the official bodies, FCO and Action 2000. Statements like this are alarmist and don't help people," she said.

An Action 2000 spokeswoman agreed Guenier's comments are "scaremongering" and challenged the Taskforce 2000 chief executive to produce research to back up his comments.