Potential boat GPS problem notice issued

The Office of Fair Trading is issuing advice over a potential issue with GPS systems on boats.

Officials say GPS weeks counters reset every 1024 weeks with the last in 1999 - but this is due to occur again on April 6 which may generate errors with position and time figures on stand-alone devices with GPS chips.

The OFT adds this is most likely to affect systems on leisure or commercial crafts which are more than 10 years old and haven't had firmware regularly updated.

The notice comes following concerns from the UK Maritime and Coastguard Operators who've released guidance on the matter on its website.