Press Complaints Commission Halton House, 20-23 High Holborn, EC1N 7JD
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Complainant Name:
The Met Office

Clauses Noted: 1

Publication: The Daily Telegraph

Complaint:

The Met Office complained to the Press Complaints Commission via Burges Salmon solicitors about an article which claimed that ‘the Met Office's apparent inability to predict the weather had become something of a national joke'. The complainant was particularly concerned about the accuracy of assertions that it had been ‘censured by a parliamentary body for failing to warn the public of the coldest December in 100 years' and that it had ‘predicted rainstorms for the royal wedding'.

Resolution:

The complaint was resolved when the PCC negotiated the publication of the following clarification, and the removal of the wording complained of from the online article:

Following "Outlook fair for amateurs as Met Office releases data" (Nov 27), we are happy to make clear that, as noted by the Select Committee for Transport, the Met Office did warn the public of last winter's cold weather from early November 2010 and that it did accurately forecast the weather in London on the day of the royal wedding. While the committee questioned the usefulness of Met Office seasonal predictions, it accepted the accuracy of its short-term forecasts.

Date Published: 17/02/2012



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