Farmer gets pay-off for scared chickens

A farmer was paid £42,000 by the Ministry of Defence after he claimed his chickens laid fewer eggs because they were frightened by the noise from jets.
By The Newsroom
Published 13th Jan 2010, 09:38 BST
Updated 13th Jan 2010, 09:39 BST

It was just one of several claims paid out by the MoD between 2006 and 2009 after complaints over noise from military jets.

The MoD also paid 52,000 after someone suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder because of low-flying jets on exercise over Devon and 117,000 in Yorkshire after a racehorse fatally injured itself after being spooked by jets.

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Figures released yesterday, obtained through a freedom of information request, showed the Staffordshire farmer received 42,000 in the financial year 2006/07 following the noise from various jets.

Trooper Sean Chance, 23, of the Queen's Royal Hussars, who received 5,000 after losing three toes in an explosion caused by a rocket-propelled grenade in Iraq in 2004, said: "There's no justice. I must live like this for the rest of my life. I should have gone into chicken farming."

But a spokesman for the MoD said comparing payments was misleading as seriously injured personnel also received a monthly income as well as the initial payment.

Related topics:YorkshireDevonIraq