DRAGONS’ Den star Duncan Bannatyne revealed that he has changed the age limits on sunbed use at his health club chain, after being tackled by BBC1 series Watchdog.
The no-nonsense entrepreneur has upped the age limit from 16 to 18 after the consumer programme raised his awareness of a health report about the dangers of sunbed use earlier this year.
An undercover reporter from the show, aged just 15, was able to use the facilities at two of his gyms as part of an investigation.
Bannatyne later clashed with similarly bullish Watchdog presenter and ex-Liverpool Echo writer Anne Robinson, after she criticised him for allowing people to use sunbeds.
They are now considered to be as dangerous as cigarettes by the World Health Organisation. A ban for under-18s is already in place in Scotland.
Bannatyne said he allowed his children to use tanning beds and had done so himself.
He said: “There’s no actual legislation or anything that proves that sunbeds cause cancer. “
But Bannatyne said his chain had now overhauled its policy after the programme team brought his attention to a recent report by the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (Comare) which recommended a ban on sunbed use by under-18s.
