MySQL Date problem

I'm having a problem with MySQL and the rollover of the Unix timestamp (to 10 digits) in my PHP scripts. A query "select * from $table where departure <= '999999999' " (select all those who left before Sep 8 2001) returns 70 records but "select * from $table where departure <= '1000000000' " (select all those who left before Sep 8 2001) returns 0 records In the database table 'departure' is a char field of 20 characters. Any hints appreciated. Regards, Stuart Cumming stuart@phuket.com www.phuket.com Please copy to e-mail. Thks.