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The forecast is bright …or should be!
A British park owner has employed his own weatherman after claiming continued negative forecasts are damaging his business. Philip Miller of Adventure Island in Southend (pictured) has asked the Met Office, the government agency that produces the UK’s weather forecasts, why it can’t get more of them right.
His battle began two years ago when he wrote to the BBC about a August Bank Holiday Monday forecast broadcast on TV. ‘Heavy, thundery showers’ were predicted – but didn’t appear.
“Southend is a major day trip destination, being the nearest resort to London, so wrong or conflicting weather information can greatly the whole of the town’s tourism economy,” says Miller. “It’s not acceptable, especially when it’s a proven fact Southend is in the driest part of the UK!”
Local Members of Parliament David Amess and James are backing the park owner’s campaign, and have also written to the Met Office. In the meantime, Miller has engaged the services of local weatherman Tom Defty and his company Metservice and is in the process of establishing a weather station onsite at Adventure Island. He boasts that it will provide accurate, hourly forecasts that all businesses in the town can use, as well as an “Accuracy-O-Meter.”
