HEALTH experts have issued a warning about the dangers of irresponsible tanning in the run up to Christmas.

Traditionally, the region's tanning booths have one of their busiest periods during the festive season.

With many women desperate for a tan for the party season, there are fears that some will put themselves at an increased risk of skin cancer.

Rob Llewellyn, principal environmental health officer at Stockton Borough Council, believes that many people in the North-East are still using tanning booths irresponsibly, despite a campaign earlier in the year.

In July, Stockton council pioneered a publicity drive to alert sunbed operatives about the dangers.

It was backed by Sam Broadbent, 31, a young mother from Stockton who believes that her terminal skin cancer was triggered by excessive exposure to sunbed radiation.

While Mr Llewellyn believes that the campaign has worked well in Stockton, he is concerned that many salons elsewhere may be breaking the safety rules.

Those guidelines bar children, fair-skinned people and those with a history of serious sunburn from tanning booths or sunbeds.

He said: "We feel we have gone a long way towards education the proprietors in Stockton.

"We don't really have the problem that some other areas do."

The environmental health chief said that he hoped to be able to run a follow up campaign next year, which would be aimed at educating members of the public.

He said: "The public put a lot of pressure on proprietors to bend the rules. We need to mount a wider educational campaign to try to raise awareness among consumers."

During the summer, sunbed establishments in Stockton were given posters, leaflets and stickers bearing the campaign slogan Develop A Tan: Nothing Else.

Mr Llewellyn said he was disappointed that Stockton council's lead had not been followed up in other parts of the region.

He said: "This is a very important issue where there is a growing risk."

Mrs Broadbent said it was "fantastic" to hear that sun-bed businesses within Stockton had heeded the council's safety call.

But she said much more was needed to alert the wider public to the dangers of unsafe artificial tanning.

She said: "People need to realise that it can kill. We really need to have a big skin cancer awareness campaign."