Weather forecasters are being criticised by people in the North East for failing to issue a weather warning for the howling gales - with gusts that reached 82mph - that battered the area on Thursday (January 13).
In a tweet, the Met Office said "the wind continues to be strong this evening" - and shared a league table of the highest wind speeds recorded round the UK. It showed that gusts of 82mph had been measured at Brizlee Wood, near Alnwick in Northumberland - with winds reaching 70mph in Cleveland.
The national weather forecaster had issued a yellow weather warning for parts of the north west - but not for the north east, which saw some of the country's strongest winds. The warning it did issue read: "Winds will increase from the west during Thursday afternoon, with a period of gales, locally, severe gales developing across Northern Ireland during the evening.
