Cancer fears saw council-run sunbeds removed

Now the city's councillors are worried that private sunbed shops - particularly unmanned tan stands - are not providing proper public protection.

Only four of the 60 tanning salons which have sprung up in Edinburgh over the last two years have joined a voluntary licence scheme.

Now the others are to be visited by environmental health officers who will order them to register for regular checks.

Licensing boss, Councillor Phil Attridge, said: "To get the licences they have to go through a lot of health checks, but a lot of them don't know that or just don't bother."

He added that staff should know the rules governing the length of time sun worshippers could safely use the machines.

Councillors are considering taking on more trading standards officers to improve control of commercial sunbeds.

'Health warning'

And they have warned that tan centres face being closed down if they allow customers to stay on the machines for too long or break other health and safety guidelines.

The move was praised by skin cancer expert Dr Jonathan Rees, head of dermatology at Edinburgh University.

But he said: "I would rather see a clear health warning - like we see on cigarette packets - put on these machines and in these shops.

"Whatever users do they are damaging themselves. There is no safe form of sunbed."

I have heard some horror stories about young girls getting badly burned and stories about salons where customers have fainted from the heat

Mandy Mahood, California Tan

The Sunbed Association said it would welcome any restrictions which improved safe tanning.

Member, Mandy Mahood, 29, who has worked at California Tan in Stockbridge for 13 years, was also keen on tougher restrictions.

She said all her customers were assessed on their skin's suitability for using the machines and people were frequently turned away.

"I have heard some horror stories about young girls getting badly burned and stories about salons where customers have fainted from the heat," she said.

Health chiefs warned in June that a skin cancer epidemic was developing in Scotland, with 125 Scots being diagnosed every week.