Millennium stockpile man Mike Stampfer says we may never know how close we came to disaster as clocks struck midnight on December 31.

STOCKPILE: Mike Stampfer, who stockpiled supplies in readiness for an attack by the Millennium Bug

Mr Stampfer, who owns Suomi Print and Design at Clifton Moor, York, hit the headlines in the run-up to the new Millennium as an outspoken member of the pressure group Y2K Community Action Network.

Mr Stampfer accepted that fears of widespread computer failures, if embedded chips failed to recognise the date change from 99 to 00, had not been realised.

But he insisted: "It was always a big unknown in any case.

"It's like watching someone with terminal cancer for a whole year and then looking at the X-rays on January 1 and seeing that the tumour has totally disappeared."

He claimed: "Responsibility for a lot of the uncertainty must be put on the shoulders of the Government because of them being incredibly secretive.

"If perhaps they had been a little more open, there would have been a little less suspicion."

Mr Stampfer said: "Over the new few weeks, I think some problems will be arising. But infrastructure problems seem to have been virtually non-existent.

"I certainly expected that, in other countries throughout the world, there would be some serious problems."

He said: "I am surprised, but obviously pleased, that people are not getting hurt or dying because of it."

Mr Stampfer, who lives at Terrington, urged neighbours to prepare for problems such as power cuts by stockpiling food and water. He set an example by stocking up on essential supplies and installing a woodburning stove and new, double-glazed windows.

Mr Stampfer said his only purchase which would not come in useful at other times was a water purifier, which cost about £60.

He likened his actions to those of a sensible householder taking out home insurance.

"If at the end of a year, your house has not burned down or you have not had a burglary, it doesn't make you think 'I wish I hadn't taken out insurance'."

Mr Stampfer added: "The other thing I would stress is that I don't think the world will ever know just how close it came to a disaster.

"I don't know what would have happened if our various groups had not been sounding a warning bell and hadn't been on at the Government to do something about it."

Mr Stampfer said he watched the celebrations on TV after succumbing to a Millennium bug himself. "I had flu over Christmas and the New Year, so I was flat on my back."

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