A reader complained to the press watchdog after receiving a copy of a daily newspaper containing an inaccuracy that was later rectified on the print run.

Glasgow-based daily The Herald published a table showing property prices in Scotland which was incorrectly labelled.

The mistake was noticed and amended during the print run, but the inaccuracy remained in reader Darrell Desbrow’s copy.

The error prompted Mr Desbrow to complain to the Independent Press Standards Organisation, but the watchdog ruled in The Herald’s favour.

Complaining under Clause 1 (Accuracy) of the Editors’ Code of Practice, Mr Desbrow said table was inaccurate because the columns had been labelled incorrectly, with the May 2018 column actually showing the prices for May 2019 and vice versa.

In response, the Herald accepted that the version of the paper Mr Desbrow had received was inaccurate.

It said that the inaccuracy had been discovered during the printing run and amended so that the dates that headed the table were the correct way round, but this meant that some of the newspapers had the accurate table and others were inaccurate.

The Herald said that they acted promptly in correcting the error, and did not believe that the error was significant.

A third column in the table explained the difference in percentage between the two sums, so the paper believe readers would not be misled by the accurate change of property prices in Scotland, and could have inferred that the dates were the wrong way round.

IPSO found the table had been amended as soon as The Herald became aware of it, and it was changed during the print run so only the earliest versions of the paper had the incorrect table headings.

In the copies that did contain the inaccurate table headings, there was no significant inaccuracy in the context of the overall article as the table explained the difference of property prices as a percentage and the accompanying article gave specific examples which attributed the correct sum to the correct year.

The complaint was not upheld, and the full adjudication can be read here.