Devon man to sue Met Office over bad weather forecasts

A Devon man is considering suing the Met Office for their ‘overly pessimistic’ weather forecasts over the summer.

Rick Turner, who runs the tourist attraction The Big Sheep, said that bad weather predictions from the Met have threatened his business, particularly over the August bank holiday.

He said: ‘The Met Office do a fine job for their short-term forecasts, which are usually spot-on. But there have been a number of disastrous bank holiday weather predictions which have not been accurate and I will look to take legal action.

‘Over the August bank holiday weekend I remember they forecast a whole weekend of rain with heavy rain on the Saturday. We did not have a drop and were enjoying sunshine and blue sky all day. This will have cost the tourism industry here in the South West millions of pounds and my business thousands.’

A Met Office spokesperson defended the forecasts, saying that the summer had been one of the wettest on record.

‘We have to tell the weather as it is, and it has been very hard to find someone who hasn't found this summer very disappointing,’ the spokesperson said.

‘Devon is ‘one of the wettest counties in England, and the Met Office cannot stop it raining.’