Parrot owner compensated £2k by RAF

A PARROT owner was handed thousands of pounds in compensation after his pet was killed by a low-flying RAF jet.

Military chiefs paid more than £2,000 after the exotic bird died when a Hercules soared over a house in Ayrshire.

Ministry of Defence officials have revealed that in the last three years they have paid out a total of £1.4 million in more than 200 separate claims across the UK for low-flying aircraft damage.

The payouts included £2,200 for the dead parrot and nearly £300 to two therapy groups, disturbed by the roar of fighter planes flying overhead. Another £900 was claimed for damage to a child’s trampoline in ­Lancashire.

But taxpayers’ watchdogs blasted the huge bill. Robert Oxley, of Taxpayer Scotland, 
said: “There is a danger that the MoD gets used to paying out compensation for these flights regardless of whether it is ­justified or not. Some payouts appear to be seriously stretching the boundaries of what is ­reasonable.”

The highest amounts claimed for compensation were for ­personal injury.

But huge sums were also paid out for damage to livestock, buildings and crops.