Boss in hot water over cat bath

When bosses of the West Midlands Pension Fund tried to lighten the mood with a feline-related article called How To Bathe A Cat in their Superlink newsletter, they did not expect to be bombarded with complaints from hordes of furious readers.

Now, following floods of calls, including dozens from angry pensioners in Wolverhampton, pensions boss Mike Woodall has been forced to make a grovelling apology.

The feature appeared in the fund's Superlink newsletter, which is distributed free to 60,000 pensioners. It suggested cat owners should trap their pets in the bathroom and wear "military-style" clothing to protect them from scratches when bathing their pets.

Cat owners were also told to "shut the bathroom door, dip the cat in the already-filled bath and squirt him with shampoo".

Mr Woodall has now written a column in the latest edition of the newsletter apologising for the article.

In the column, he writes: "May I apologise on behalf of the editorial board for any offence this article caused.

"I am confident the editorial board did not mean to offend anyone but, having read the article again, I can understand the comments you have made in your letters and telephone calls.

"I am certain the editorial board will be more mindful in the future about articles which could cause offence, however well-intentioned."

As an extra gesture to cat lovers, bosses have filled nearly a quarter of the newsletter with information about the Cats Protection League charity.

Mr Woodall said: "This is the first time in the 10-year history of the newsletter we have had to issue an apology.

"The article was intended to be funny but it backfired."

The West Midlands Pension Fund has 106,000 contributing members, 60,000 deferred members and 60,000 pensioners, with total assets of nearly £8 billion. Most of them work, or have worked, for the major local authorities in the Black Country, Birmingham, Solihull and Coventry.