‘Pardon. The BBC has removed Blackburn from the weather map, and put Burnley on the map instead?

Is that what you’re saying?”, Mumtaz, one of my staff in my Blackburn office replied to a constituent who’d phoned, as I was working at another desk.

She then spoke to him in Gujarati. I know only the odd word in this language, but ‘Burnley’, ‘Blackburn’, and ‘BBC’ are the same in all languages.

Mumtaz then confirmed that this chap really was complaining about the BBC taking us off their weather map.

His family may have hailed from India, but he was a Blackburnian, and was outraged at this apparent discrimination against the largest town in East Lancashire.

The phones rarely stop ringing in my Blackburn office. Folk call with problems, complaints, or issues they want me to take up.

Over the years, we’ve had plenty of unexpected cases to deal with.

But never before a complaint about the weather maps.

And the complainant was – and is – correct.

When I thought about it, I had noticed myself that not only the regional weather forecast, but the map of the north west which introduces the BBC’s regional news, has Burnley there, and not us.

I thought that this might be the BBC ringing the changes – but it’s now clear that this excision appears permanent.

For the avoidance of doubt, I’ve nothing against Burnley. I like the town. I admire its spirit. No-one should take away from them the success which the Clarets have achieved.

But why drop Blackburn from the weather map? I’m writing to the BBC to find out.

There is a serious point here too.

Burnley may be only a dozen miles away, but some say its weather is a bit different from ours.

The BBC’s own forecast for Tuesday was showing rain in Burnley, but none in Blackburn. However, it’s hard to prove the distinction.

The Commons statisticians referred me to the Met Office’s historic data.

For both Blackburn and Burnley it comes from the same weather station – at Stonyhurst!