British Gas puts 1,600 engineers on Y2K standby

British Gas will put just over 1,500 engineers on standby over the millennium period in case of Y2K-related computer failures.

Over the four-day holiday period, 1,600 engineers will be at the ready to fix gas bursts and handle supply breakdowns in the national grid, operated by BG subsidiary, Transco.

The gas company has spent the last two years and more than £50m on date-change remediation and testing. However, David Varney, chief executive, said this is not a reason to be complacent and claimed "nobody can be 100 per cent confident."