MET Office Sued for Compensation Over Bad Weather Predictions [8th Oct 2012]
A man who runs a tourist attraction in Devon has said that he may sue the MET Office for their overly pessimistic weather forecasts, which he believes are affecting his business. Rick Turner runs The Big Sheep, a sheep racing attraction. He says that people are being put off having family days out because of forecasts of poor weather and that this has cost him £20,000 in lost business. He is especially scornful of medium term forecasts which are often inaccurate but affect plans which people make. He is basing his case against the MET Office on two long weekends last year when rain was forecast but never happened. He says that his numbers were down by 20% on each of those long weekends. Despite the sunny weather. The tourist company Visit Cornwall has agreed that better forecasting would improve matters. They say it would be helpful to know the length of showers. The MET Office have said that Devon is one of the wettest places in the country and that they have no control over whether it rains. They say their forecasts are correct six days out of seven. Related Stories: MET Office cost tourism thousands - www.independent.co.uk Sheep depression - www.mirror.co.uk Met office could be sued by tourist attraction for pessimistic forecasts - www.huffingtonpost.co.uk Three Kenyans have been allowed the right to pursue compensation from the British government for the abuses they suffered when they were imprisoned during the Mau Mau rebellion. It was found in the high court this week that the two men and one woman had been subjected to unspeakable acts of cruelty including castration and severe sexual assaults, however it has been estimated that another 2,000 victims are likely to come forward. This number represents just a small percentage of the 70,000 people who were imprisoned during the uprising in the 1950's. The uprising began when the Kenya Land and Freedom Army stabbed a European woman which led to general violence by the Mau Mau against white settlers. Many local people were jailed, but few were actually charged with any crimes. This case involves three Kenyans who are now aged 85, 84 and 73 and had involved a fourth woman who died before the trial was complete. The judge has ruled that there is enough evidence to suggest that there was systematic torture of prisoners during the Emergency. Meanwhile the Foreign Office has admitted that this result could lead to more far-reaching consequences in terms of other detainees and that they would be looking to appeal the decision. Related Stories: Mau Mau torture case: Kenyans win ruling against UK - www.guardian.co.uk Dignity sought in Mau Mau ruling - www.bbc.co.uk Due to the collapse of the Gibraltar-based Lemma Europe Insurance Company, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has said it is working with the liquidators to help those UK policyholders who may be affected. Lemma sold general insurance products and solicitors professional indemnity products. It is thought that the company had 7,000 policyholders in the UK the FSCS has reported that most will be compensated up to 90% of their losses because the company was authorised by the regulator. There will be no upper limit in terms of the amount of compensation awarded and those with compulsory insurances such as motor third party and employers liability will be fully compensated. Mark Neale from the FSCS has commented that they are prioritising those with urgent claims and those with potential hardship will be dealt with first. Related Stories: FSCS update on lemma Europe Insurance Company Ltd - www.fscs.org.uk FSCS to compensate lemma policyholders - www.ftadviser.com A former police worker who was sacked because of allegations of withholding information regarding his brother has won the right to have his case heard again. Andrew Cusick was originally awarded £26,649 in compensation and was told he would get his job back after a hearing in 2005. However this ruling was overturned last year and it was found that his dismissal was fair. The cases centres around Cusick's brother Martin who was a former police officer and a convicted sex offender. Martin went missing in 2005 and it was discovered that Andrew had been in contact with him but had failed to tell the police. The case has now been brought before a new judge who has ruled that there seem to be inconsistencies and that the case was not properly dealt with at the time of the first trial. The judge also mentioned that there could be some important considerations for the public interest if the case gets another hearing. He described the events as not being a typical unfair dismissal case. Related Stories: New tribunal hearing for police worker sacked over sex offender twin case - www.bbc.co.uk Police worker given second chance for compensation - www.scotsman.com A man who was awarded £60,000 in compensation by the Met for being held without charge in connection with anti-terrorism investigations has now been sent to the US to answer charges there. Barbar Ahmed was originally arrested in 2003 and was found to have 73 injuries by the time he arrived at the police station. He was re-arrested in 2004 and has been in prison ever since awaiting extradition to the US. This is a British record for the longest a person has spent in prison without a trial. His family are now arguing that he should be tried in the UK where his alleged crimes are said to have been committed. Ahmed was charged this week in the US with crimes related to running websites which may have funded terrorism. These charges could not be brought in the UK due to insufficient evidence. Ahmed was taken to the US on the same flight as Abu Hamza, but his family want to make it very clear that the crimes their son are charged with are quite different and that Ahmed is being tarred with the same brush. The family were also denied the opportunity to see their son before his flight. Related Stories: Send my son home terror suspects father - www.independent.co.uk Barbar Ahmed extradition reaction: RIP British justice - www.huffingtonpost.co.uk  |
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