WEATHER CHAOS: inevitable backlog of work and fears that information may have been lost


Floods wreaking havoc from Oxfordshire to the Midlands and beyond have hit law firms and county courts.



At least three courts - in Gloucester, Cheltenham and Worcester - have been affected, with backlogs in work inevitable.



Complaints about law firms could also rise if the information they hold has been lost, it has emerged.



The Legal Complaints Service (LCS) in Leamington Spa had its basement flooded, but managed to reopen on Tuesday this week.



LCS chief executive Deborah Evans told the Gazette that staff took files, computers and phone systems upstairs from the building's ground floor on Friday and Saturday, finishing just before police told them to leave for their own safety.



'We were lucky it was Friday, as we were able to do so much over the weekend,' she said. 'There is a possibility this could impact on some of our targets, but it will be minimal and we're working really hard to catch up. Staff were really worried because we've put so much work into providing a service here and they thought they could see it all being unravelled.'



Ms Evans said she was aware of a wide range of solicitors' firms that have been flooded and which may have lost files as a result. 'We fear we may have a lot of complaints coming in because of this,' she said.



Parkinson Wright, a firm with offices in Worcester, Droitwich Spa and Evesham, has been forced to close its Evesham office due to flooding.



Mercedes King-Jones, the partner in charge of the Evesham office, said the firm would be back in another office in the town by Friday, and that all files had been moved to Worcester for now. 'It was devastation really,' she said. 'It wasn't safe to walk through, it was a mess.'



Rupert White