The millions of pounds invested in averting any Millennium Bug chaos was money well spent, say Bradford bosses.

Company chiefs breathed a sigh of relief as the so-called bug failed to cripple computer systems.

Spokesmen from business organisations across the city, including the Chamber of Commerce, TEC and Business Link Bradford & District, had no calls from firms with Millennium Bug worries.

And they said they were not expecting any major problems with their systems as the year progressed.

Andrew Gell, from the TEC, said it had suffered no major problems in its systems.

The lack of problems brought a backlash from New Scientist computer writer Barry Fox who reportedly said that the Government-backed Action 2000 had stirred up fears which were unfounded.

He said: "We did not need the expensive Government-backed campaign scaring the population witless which failed to give smaller firms the support they needed.''

But he was not supported by bosses from Bradford who said they welcomed the warnings and information Action 2000 gave.

Peter Fryer, financial services director for Bradford-based Provident Financial, said: "We needed the warnings.

"I thought the information they produced about the safety of utility companies such as water and power providers was very reassuring.

"If we had not spent £2 million on making changes our systems would have failed.

"It is quite a relief that it has all worked and we are nice and safe.

"I don't think the efforts of Action 2000 were over the top as it took a while for the seriousness of the situation to sink in and then people started taking action."

David Holmes, from the Bradford-based Yorkshire Building Society, said: "The Millennium Bug was only a let down because nothing happened.

"In fact, the warnings we got from Action 2000 proved to be successful because the result is that things have generally gone OK."

He said the firm had been working on updating its computer systems for the last five years and had been able to assure savers and borrowers that the company had done all it could to make its equipment safe.

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