General Von Clinkerhoffen wrote:

It's because the Met Office is a commercial (small c) organisation, you
don't get the good usable stuff unless you hand over your credit card
number!


Nothing new in that. The main change is that now the money they collect goes
to the Office rather than direct to MOD. Also I reckon it's probably
cheaper than it used to be. 35 years ago, if someone came to Bracknell to
consult me it would cost them 40 GBP per hour. For work not requiring a
personal visit, the charge was about a tenner an hour. Minimum charge was a
fiver as that was the cost of raising a bill. I'm not sure how much that'd
be in today's money but a pint of beer cost about 10p in those days.

Some may find it hard to believe, but the system is better organised than it
used to be. At about that time, an oil company asked a branch of the Office
for a service and was quoted a charge of a million quid. They asked another
branch and were provided the identical service for half-a-million.

--
Graham Davis
Bracknell
It was raining cats and dogs and I fell in a poodle. - Chic
Murray(1919-1985)