Some of the UK's leading business people have signed a letter urging the British, American and Canadian governments to take urgent action to deal with the year 2000 computer problem.

Chief executives or senior directors of companies including British Aerospace, Cellnet, Unilever, NatWest and Lloyds TSB banks, Marks and Spencer, Tate and Lyle, SmithKline Beecham and brewers Bass have signed an open letter from the BritishNorth American Research Association calling for action.

The move implies that industry is not satisfied that present efforts by governments, including the Action 2000 group set up in Britian, are sufficient.

The millennium problem means many computers and microprocessors will be corrupted when their internal clocks turn from December 31st 1999 to January 1st 2000. They could crash or cause numerous errors as a result.