Latest resolved complaints dealt with by the PCC.

The majority of complaints made to the Press Complaints Commission, which raise a possible breach of the Code of Practice, are resolved directly between the Commission’s staff, editors and complainants.

These are either settled to the express satisfaction of the complainant following some remedial action by the editor or are not pursued by complainants following an explanation or other response from the publication.

Listed here are summaries of complaints involving the regional press which fall into the first category.

Express & Star (Walsall Edition)
Valerie Reeves of Walsall complained with the signed authorisation of her son, Mark Reeves, and his co-defendants Paul Dunkley and David Cheetham, that a report of a court hearing contained inaccuracies and intrusive details. (Clauses 1, 3, 10)
Resolution: The newspaper publicly clarified their addresses and that they were convicted of supplying heroin to an undercover policeman.

Evening Standard
Detective Constable Idun of Braintree complained that an article reporting on his role in the trial of a man accused of assault contained inaccuracies. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The newspaper offered to publish a correction and wrote to DC Idun accepting a number of points of his complaint.

Evening Standard
Dr Imran Waheed, the representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, complained that the newspaper had inaccurately referred to his organisation as ‘extremist’ and ‘militant’. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The parties agreed to disagree on these points, which the complainant accepted were a question of semantics.

Evening Standard
Mr and Mrs Leo Glynn of Hemel Hempstead complained that they had been harassed and that a report of an investigation into their daughter’s death was intrusive. (Clauses 3, 4, 5)
Resolution: The newspaper explained why the article had been published, detailed the approach made by the reporter, and undertook to bear the complaint in mind in the event of future reporting.

West Somerset Free Press
Mr John Cunningham of Minehead complained that an article reporting his daughter’s inquest had been intrusive and insensitive during a time of grief. (Clause 5)
Resolution: The newspaper published an apology.

Tivy-Side Advertiser
Mr Haydn Williams of Cardigan complained that a report of an alleged investigation into a charity for brain-injured children contained inaccuracies and intrusive details, and that his family had been harassed. (Clauses 1, 3, 4)
Resolution: The newspaper offered the complainant an opportunity to reply to the article.

Portsmouth Evening News
Mr Adam Sawyer of Portsmouth complained that an article reporting his conviction for violent disorder did not include his side of the story in mitigation. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The newspaper undertook to provide coverage of his appeal.

Evening Standard
Mr J S Walker of Sidcup complained that an article was inaccurate in stating so firmly that there were now fewer black cabs on the roads of London between the hours of 10pm and midnight. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The newspaper published a letter from the complainant in which he suggested that, in fact, there were, in his experience as a taxi driver, more black cabs on the roads between 10pm and midnight than ever before.

Shropshire Star
The Council of the Borough of Oswestry complained about inaccuracies and misleading statements in a reader’s letter criticising a planning decision. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The complaint was resolved privately.

Dartmouth Chronicle
Dr Brian Boughton of Dartmouth complained that a report regarding a proposed recreational centre for the area contained inaccuracies. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The newspaper published a letter from the complainant.

Cambrian News
Mr Haydn Williams of Cardigan complained that a report of an alleged investigation into a charity for brain-injured children contained inaccuracies and intrusive details, and that his family had been harassed. (Clauses 1, 3, 4)
Resolution: The newspaper offered the complainant an opportunity to reply to the article.

The Citizen
Mr David Griffith of Gloucester complained that an article identified his fifteen-year-old son as a victim of crime. (Clause 12)
Resolution: The editor wrote personally to the complainant to express his regret at the inclusion of his son’s name. He indicated that he had taken the matter up with the news agency that provided the material for the piece.

Gloucestershire Echo
Mr Andrew Dutton of Worcestershire complained that a report of his appeal against a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal decision contained inaccuracies and misleading omissions. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The newspaper published a clarification.

Newbury Weekly News
Ms Vicky O’Hare complained that an article reporting the death of her father was inaccurate and insensitive, thereby intruding into the grief being experienced by her and her family. (Clause 1, 5)
Resolution: The editor wrote personally to the complainant to express her regret at any distress the article had caused.

Newbury & Thatcham Chronicle
Ms Vicky O’Hare complained that an article reporting the death of her father was inaccurate and insensitive, thereby intruding into the grief being experienced by her and her family. (Clauses 1, 5)
Resolution: The editor wrote personally to the complainant to express his regret at any distress the article had caused.

Birmingham Evening Mail
Councillor Jackie Hawthorn complained on behalf of Mrs Parveen Akhtar of Birmingham that two articles inaccurately claimed that she had pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated racial harassment. In fact, Mrs Akhtar had strongly denied the charge and the case was formally dismissed. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The newspaper published a full correction and apology, printed alongside a photograph of Mrs Akhtar.

Lincolnshire Echo
Mr Denis Woodcraft, of Lincolnshire, complained that an article had inaccurately reported that his son Andrew Walker was a drug dealer, when actually he had only ever been found guilty of using drugs. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The newspaper had published an apology on this point.

Evening Standard
The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology complained, through Eversheds solicitors, that an editorial had unfairly suggested that it had not publicly disassociated itself from the actions of its Professor of Translation Studies, who had removed two Israeli academics from the boards of two translation journals. The newspaper also subsequently published a comment piece exacerbating the original inaccuracy. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The newspaper published a full correction covering both articles.

South London Press
Ms Lorna Carroll, of London, complained on behalf of her mother Mrs Ivy Carroll, and several residents of a local road, that an article had inaccurately reported complaints over the siting of a ball court within a newly-constructed playground. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The newspaper published a large clarification and apology.

Daily Record
Mrs Jenny Green, of Lincoln, complained that the newspaper had identified her recently deceased daughter and reported details of her previous complaint against a doctor for sexual harassment. (Clause 12)
Resolution: The newspaper apologised for the distress caused by the article and annotated their records to reflect the complainant’s concerns.

Yorkshire Post
Mr W A Dugan, curator of the Museum of Army Transport in Beverley, complained that he had been inaccurately quoted in an article reporting on the proposed National Army Museum North. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The newspaper
published a correction.

Evening Standard
Mr Kumar Murshid of the Greater London Assembly Advisory Cabinet complained of inaccuracies in an article reporting ongoing problems with an extractor fan outside his restaurant. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The newspaper published a letter from the complainant making clear that he was represented at two scheduled court hearings.

Dunstable on Sunday
Mrs Shirley Hanlon, of Bedfordshire, complained that the newspaper had printed inaccurate details when reporting that two children had managed to exit from the playgroup run by her. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The newspaper published a correction on this point.

Western Daily Press
Mrs Jennifer Reid of Bristol complained that the newspaper had published incorrect information about Caribbean food – which she sells in her shop – beneath a picture of her for which she had not given consent. (Clauses 1, 3)
Resolution: The newspaper published a letter from the complainant.

Horncastle Target
Mr Denis Woodcraft, of Lincolnshire, complained that an article had inaccurately reported that his son Andrew Walker was a drug dealer, when actually he had only ever been found guilty of using drugs. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The newspaper had published an apology on this point.

The Citizen
Mr Richard Hall of Morecambe complained that a letter he sent to the newspaper for publication appeared in its pages with several typographical and grammatical errors that had not been in his draft. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The newspaper published an acknowledgement that the mistakes had been made during transcription and apologised to the complainant.

Irish News
Mr Stuart Millson of West Malling, Kent complained that he had been described as an ‘open fascist’. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The newspaper gave the complainant a substantial opportunity to reply to the description.

Belfast Newsletter
Mr Carlo Gebler of Enniskillen complained that the newspaper had inaccurately stated that his new play ‘10 rounds’ was based upon the controversy surrounding the Omagh atrocity. It was, in fact, partially inspired by the Ombudsman’s Report into the Omagh Bombing. (Clause 1)
Resolution: The newspaper published a letter from the complainant on this subject.

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