A Sussex caravan boss has slammed UK weather forecasters for their “increasingly alarmist” predictions, which he believes are putting people off booking their summer caravan holidays.
Park Holidays UK director Tony Clish told the BBC that weather forecasts are becoming “increasingly alarmist” – and it is having an impact on bookings in the caravan industry.
“We all plan in advance and some people decide not to do things and end up missing a nice day because of the weather forecast,” said Mr Clish, whose firm operates sites throughout Devon, Dorset, Kent and Sussex.
“It’s a very late booking pattern and people wait to see what forecasters say on the TV and radio.”
BBC weatherman Tomasz Schafernaker said he could understand Mr Clish’s sentiments as there was sometimes a tendency “to emphasise on the negative”, but he denied that weather forecasters are not “deliberately pessimistic”.
Earlier this month, 150 caravanners at a site in Wales had to be rescued by after flash flooding left them stranded amid rapidly-rising waters.
