Fears that bad weather could lead to a huge increase in claims have been unfounded, according to experts.

Storms battered the UK over the New Year forcing celebrations to be cancelled in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester, Belfast and Liverpool.

But AMG director of customer services, Garry Lloyd said: “The reality has been less severe than the warnings.

“There has been an increase in claims activity but nothing like the massive numbers we'd associate with severe winds”.

Lloyd also said that local authorities were right to cancel the New Year festivities. He said: “They were absolutely were right from a legal liability point of view. The organisers would have been taking a massive risk, particularly in Scotland, which was badly affected.”

According to Aon, the freezing fog which forced flights to be grounded at several major airports in the run up to Christmas Day could prompt airports to investigate new products to cover the growing frequency of bad weather.

A spokesman said: “It would suggest that airports need to look at more complex products such as weather derivatives. I would expect interest to grow in these types of products as a result of weather-related incidents.”

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