A boy who was seriously hurt by broken glass in a Watford park has won the right to claim Â£200,000 damages.

He was aged 12 in April 2012 when he dived for a football in Leavesden Green recreation ground, landing on a shard of glass which cut his hand causing lasting nerve damage.
A legal battle saw a High Court judge overturn an earlier ruling which had dismissed claims for compensation.
The case has cost Watford Borough Council Â£100,000 in legal costs.
The boy's original claim for damages was thrown out in October after a county court judge found the council had an adequate system of checks to ensure safety in the park.
Evidence was put forward at the county trial showing that the bin area had been inspected that morning and any broken glass removed.
The boy, who was not named due to his age, had been playing football with his friends on a makeshift pitch in the park.
When the ball went astray, he dove to prevent it heading into an area where there was a shelter and bin.
"He put his hand on the ground near the shelter, near one of the bins, and unfortunately hit his hand against a shard of broken glass," said Mr Justice Jay at the High Court.
Broken glass in the area around the shelter was known to be "quite a significant problem", especially during school holidays, he added.
Justice Jay said the earlier decision had to be overturned as the borough council had failed to comply with an order over disclosure of evidence prior to the county court trial last October.
He added the county court judge had not properly taken into account the fact that the council had not produced an assessment of the risk of broken glass in the park.
The decision means the boy is entitled to claim "substantial" damages which his lawyers valued at about Â£200,000.


A "culture of excess" in alcohol and junk food advertising is harming Scotland's health, doctors have warned.

The British Medical Association (BMA) in Scotland said regulation was weak, driving obesity and alcohol problems, while the NHS "picks up the pieces".
The BMA has joined calls for stricter licensing, including a ban on TV adverts before the 21:00 watershed.
The Scottish government has written to Westminster calling for the ban, which the Tories branded "a brainless idea".
Dr Peter Bennie, chairman of the BMA Scotland, said: "Despite the serious health harms associated with excessive alcohol consumption and obesity in the UK, these industries use marketing to promote consumption of their products.
"The cost of alcohol to our society is significant and, inevitably, the NHS picks up the pieces.
"Obesity rates too are worryingly high, driven by the promotion and availability of unhealthy foods.
"Obesity brings with it increased risk of a wide range of serious life-threatening and chronic diseases. While doctors have a role to play in supporting overweight patients, there is a limit to what they can do.
"The UK government could take decisive action to change the culture of excess that the junk food and alcohol industry promotes, and tougher regulation of advertising would be a positive first step."
Barbara O'Donnell, deputy chief executive at Alcohol Focus Scotland, said: "Although current rules prohibit alcohol advertising around children's programmes, alcohol adverts are allowed during early evening family viewing when the largest number of children watch television."
Children surveyed were more familiar with alcohol brands than biscuits, crisps and ice cream, she added.
Control over broadcast advertising is reserved to Westminster.
Scottish Public Health Minister Maureen Watt has written to UK government ministers calling for alcohol and junk food advertising to be prohibited before the TV watershed.
"There is a wealth of research which shows that children seeing these adverts while they are watching their favourite family programmes respond positively towards them and they affect their behaviour," she said.
"That's something that needs to be addressed."
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Jackson Carlaw said: "This brainless idea is more evidence of an SNP which thinks state always knows best."
He added: "It's not Nicola Sturgeon's role to act like a deranged head nanny in the SNP's increasingly scary nanny state."


Welsh councils will be asked to work together to deliver key public services on a regional basis, Local Government Secretary Mark Drakeford has said.

It comes after he dropped merger plans to cut 22 councils to eight or nine.
The 22 councils will remain as the "democratic tier" of local government, but "concerted collaboration" will be expected, the minister told AMs.
Former Cardiff council leader Russell Goodway warned of an "unfortunate fudge" creating unaccountable services.
Social care, educational improvement and educational improvement could be pooled along health board boundaries, with regional co-operation likely in transport and planning.
In a Senedd statement, Mr Drakeford said the plan would be to retain existing local authorities as the "front door" through which people access services, but with key services being delivered regionally.
"This will give local authorities more resilience in terms of staffing and finance and also ensure that services are planned and delivered on the right scale," he added.
Transport, planning and economic development could be run on a city region basis, while education improvement and social services could be aligned to health board boundaries, Mr Drakeford said.
He added that any councils wanting to "build their resilience further by voluntarily merging" would be supported to make it happen.
Further talks with councils, unions and other interested parties would take place leading to a "viable way forward" by the new year.
Ahead of the announcement, former Cardiff council leader Russell Goodway branded it as an "unfortunate fudge" and "the worst of all possible worlds".
"You're going to have seven indirectly elected local authorities instead of eight or nine directly elected," he told BBC Radio Wales, referring to co-operation within health board boundaries.
Speaking on Good Morning Wales, he said: "They're not directly accountable to the people that they serve - the voting public can't sack them because they don't know really who is in charge here.
"When you've got responsibilities like education and social care, there needs to be a direct relationship between those who are making the decisions and those that are receiving the service."
Dominic MacAskill, the trade union Unison's head of local government in Wales, said it was "sensible" for regionally-shared services to follow health board boundaries.
But he added that council workers and the public "want the assurance that councils will have the ability to deliver quality public services with a directly employed workforce and that people will have a democratic say over how services are provided".
Plaid Cymru's Shadow Local Government Secretary Sian Gwenllian accused Labour of "characteristic dithering" over the issue, but welcomed the prospect of a "U-turn" by scrapping plans to force "unpopular mergers".
She said her party wanted to see councils co-operate under a regional model, but claimed the plans to integrated health and social care were "not clear".
"Plaid Cymru wants to see them developed further in order to deliver a seamless service for patients," Ms Gwenllian said.
Welsh Conservative spokeswoman Janet Finch-Saunders said: "We need to be having a serious conversation about what services local authorities will be asked to provide in future and then develop a system to fit.
"Once again they're doing things the wrong way around."
The one clear advantage of this latest plan to reform councils will be the argument that it is achievable.
Proposals to dramatically cut the existing 22 local authorities to single figures proved to be overly ambitious for the previous Labour administration.
This is likely to have far greater cross-party political appeal at the Senedd, and will go down well with the councils themselves and the unions as it won't involve large-scale redundancies and upheaval.
The criticism will revolve around question marks over accountability and simplicity.
If the new regional partnerships are not judged to be performing well, how do you get rid of them?
It will also create an added tier of government, and inevitably greater complexity to a system that it is already unfathomable to many.
A final thought: if new joint cabinets are effective it will surely be a matter of time before people start asking the question about why there needs to be 22 separate local authorities.
And then we end up back where we started.


The Federal Reserve will end its stimulus programme in October if US economic growth continues at its current pace, according to minutes from its June meeting.

The Fed has been buying bonds to lower long-term interest rates and boost growth since September 2012.
A end to stimulus efforts indicates the Fed believes the US economy can continue to grow without its support.
Currently, the bank is buying $35bn (Â£20bn) of bonds monthly.
That is down from a high of $85bn in January, when the US central bank first began trimming its monthly bond purchases by $10bn a month.
The minutes from the 17-18 June meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) revealed that the central bankers planned to continue their $10bn cuts until one final $15bn trim in October.
"If the economy progresses about as the Committee expects...this final reduction would occur following the October meeting," the minutes said.
US markets - which had been trading up for the day - shed a few points in the wake of the announcement, which many investors and analysts had long been expecting.
Investors had been unsure about the pace of the Fed's cuts, and had put the end of the stimulus programme at either October or mid-December.
By naming an exact date, the Fed has attempted to relieve that uncertainty.
Now, the speculation on Wall Street will be when the central bank will raise its short-term interest rate - known as the federal funds rate - which has been at 0% since the 2008 financial crisis, when it slashed rates to boost growth.
Critics of the bond-buying stimulus programme - which is known as "quantitative easing - have argued that by keeping rates extremely low for a long period of time, the Fed has forced investors into riskier areas like stocks or corporate debt.
That has led to fears of a bubble, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average topped 17,000 points for the first time last week.
However, Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen recently sought to allay fears about increased risk in the financial sector.
In a speech last week in front of the International Monetary Fund, Ms Yellen said that while she did "see pockets of increased risk-taking across the financial system", the Fed still had many tools at its disposal to act should certain sectors begin to overheat.


Swansea City's American owners insist chairman Huw Jenkins has a long-term future at the Premier League club despite criticism from fans.

Steve Kaplan and Jason Levien answered questions at a passionate forum hosted by Swansea City Supporters' Trust.
They admitted making mistakes during last summer's takeover and in the transfer market, but defended Jenkins.
"I expect him to be here a long time," said Kaplan. "He cares about the club deeply."
Kaplan added: "Not all his decisions are right, not all my decisions are right decisions, not all Jason's are either.
"But he cares deeply about the club. He was instrumental in getting the club to where it is.
"We have all made mistakes along the way, but Huw is our long-term partner. He's been very open to new ideas and he has been great to work with."
Kaplan and Levien bought a controlling stake of 68% in the club in July, a transaction which saw selling shareholders such as Jenkins make millions in profit.
The Americans and the existing directors faced stinging criticism from supporters, who called on Jenkins and other selling shareholders to leave during Swansea's poor start to the season.
Fans were also unhappy that the Supporters' Trust, which owns a stake of over 21% in the club, was not fully consulted during last summer's takeover.
Media playback is not supported on this device
With the benefit of hindsight, Levien admitted he and Kaplan would have done things differently - but stood by Jenkins and his fellow directors.
"I think mistakes were made in the acquisition process. Looking back now, I would have liked to engage earlier with the Trust," said Levien.
"I cannot speak for the shareholders, but I know for more than a decade they led the club to great success. I think the board who were here during that period deserve respect."
Swansea have endured a torrid season, plunging to the bottom of the Premier League table earlier in the campaign before finding themselves in their current difficult position of 17th spot, one place and one point above the relegation zone.
Mixed dealings in the transfer window have contributed to that decline, with club-record signing Borja Baston arguably the most disappointing signing with just one goal from 17 appearances in attack since joining from Atletico Madrid for £15m.
"Do I think mistakes were made in recent transfer windows? Sure," said Levien.
"I think there were big successes too. I think Alfie Mawson was quite a find.
"Do we think we can improve on the process [of signing players]? Yes."


An official ban on Maggi noodles in the Indian capital, Delhi, has sparked humour and public health concerns on social media platforms like Twitter.

Authorities in Delhi on Wednesday banned the sale of Maggi noodles for 15 days after high levels of lead were found in batches tested there and in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
On Thursday, authorities in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand also banned the snack "in public interest", reports say.
Nestle India has denied that its noodles are unsafe or unhealthy.
The ban is getting prominent coverage in the media and also on social media platforms.
Several hashtags like #Maggi, #Maggiban, #Maggiinasoup, #MaggiKeSideEffects have trended in the past few days.
"The two-minute death of India's favourite noodle brand," reads the headline on one the Firstpost news website.
It highlights why the ban on "just a noodle brand" has sparked such massive social media reaction and media coverage.
As one food expert said on a TV channel, Maggi "is a little more than noodles" for many Indians.
It is hugely popular with school and college students, and Nestle's "two-minute" advertising campaign stressing the ease of cooking the instant noodles have made them a household name in India.
"Maggi has been my companion in all my travels. I have travelled in southern India's coastal areas, in the Himalayan regions, and in the dusty plains of central India, Maggi has always been within reach," says Delhi-based marketing executive Rohit Raman.
Maggi "becomes the cheapest and easiest thing to eat when you can't afford to have a proper meal for whatever reason", he adds.
So is he going to continuing eating Maggi?
His colleague Virendra Singh says that many, including him, have taken a temporary break from the snack.
"We are just waiting. There is no way we are going to have anything that is unsafe. But at the same time, we hope that this ban will help Maggi and other brands realise the importance of public health," he says.
Others have taken to Twitter to give their "humorous take" on the ban.
But other Twitter users and media reports have taken the discussion beyond humour, highlighting the impact of the ban on the vendors who make their living by selling Maggi.
For others, the ban appears "overhyped" because they feel the authorities have not done enough to tackle other important issues on public health.
BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world.  You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook.


The NFL has toughened its domestic violence policy which could lead to a six-game suspension or a lifetime ban for a second offence.

It follows criticism after Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice received only a two-game suspension in July for assaulting his then-fiancee.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell admitted the punishment was too lenient when revealing the tougher new policy.
It applies to all NFL personnel and covers all incidents of physical force.
Goodell said: "My disciplinary decision led the public to question our sincerity, our commitment, and whether we understood the toll that domestic violence inflicts on so many families.
"I take responsibility both for the decision and for ensuring that our actions in the future properly reflect our values. I didn't get it right."


Fionnuala McCormack leads the entry for Sunday's Great Ireland Run in Dublin in an event which will honour the memory of late Ballymena & Antrim athletics club great Sean Kyle.

McCormack has travelled home to compete after achieving the Olympic 10,000m qualifying mark in the US last weekend.
"The event is a national championship and has a lot of history so I feel it is important to run," said McCormack.
This Phoenix Park event is sold out with close to 8,000 runners competing.
The mixing of the sport's grassroots and elite athletes is something that would have delighted Ballymena athletics doyen Kyle, who died after a long illness last November.
Great Ireland Run organiser, former Irish international athlete Gareth Turnbull came up with of incorporating a team match into the event which would pay tribute to the renowned coach, who formed a remarkable partnership with his wife, the three-time Olympian Maeve Kyle at the Ballymena & Antrim club.
The team component will see an Ireland line-up which includes McCormack, facing a Commonwealth select, with the top three scorers in the men's and women's races to count.
"Given Sean's background of guiding athletes who competed for Ireland and Britain and in Commonwealth Games, I think a match between Ireland and Commonwealth teams for the Sean Kyle Cup is very appropriate," Turnbull told BBC Sport Northern Ireland.
"Maeve (Kyle) is coming down for the event to present the trophy and we're very much looking forward to seeing her."
McCormack's Irish women's team-mates will include Deirdre Byrne while Britain's world mountain running silver medallist Emma Clayton and Worthing athlete Rebecca Moore, who has a personal best of 34:27 for 10,000m, will be part of the Commonwealth select.
Twice European Cross Country champion McCormack is likely to have to choose either the 10,000m or the marathon in Rio as the events are only two days apart, with the track event taking place first.
McCormack appears to be leaning towards opting for the longer distance although she is careful to point out that several other Irish female Olympic hopefuls are set to run marathons over the next few weeks.
However, McCormack's marathon time of 2:33:15 set last November, which puts her second fastest of the Irish qualifiers behind Lizzie Lee (2:32:51), is over three minutes faster than next quickest Breege Connolly and is thus, unlikely to be bettered by two Irish athletes over the next month.
McCormack clocked 32:05.08 for 10,000m at the Stanford Invitational meeting last Friday which was almost 10 seconds inside the Olympic standard.
Olympic Games marathon hopefuls Kevin Seaward and Mick Clohissey will compete on the Irish men's team which also includes Joe Sweeney and Brandon Hargreaves, who represented Ireland at last year's European Under-23 Championships.
New Zealander Dan Wallis, who has a personal best of 29:45.47 for 10,000m on the track, will lead the Commonwealth men's team which also includes Englishman Owen Hind and Welsh athlete Rob Samuel.
In addition to the elite women's (13:10 BST start) and men's 10K (13:30) races, a Great Ireland Mile featuring Irish talent John Travers will take place earlier in the Phoenix Park at 11:30.


An Afghan soldier has been greeted as a hero and presented with keys to a new home for killing six of the seven insurgents who tried to storm parliament on Monday.

President Ashraf Ghani tweeted a picture of himself greeting the soldier, Sergeant Esa Khan, at his office in the capital Kabul.
The soldier is also to be promoted.
On Monday, TV stations showed Sgt Khan standing over the bodies of the Taliban attackers after their failed attack.
The militants had detonated a suicide car bomb but failed to get into the parliamentary chamber.
"I just killed them," said Sgt Khan who has been lauded on Twitter.
"I was standing there and saw them running towards parliament.
"I shot one.  I saw another coming.  I shot six - all of them are dead.
"I would give my life for this country."
At the time the interior ministry said the attack was repelled by police, with seven assailants killed.
Mr Ghani said he was proud of Sgt Khan's "resolve and heroism".
The soldier's commander, Gen Abdul Sattar, said Sgt Khan had been very close to the suicide attack and shot the attackers with the assistance of colleagues at the scene.
He described Sgt Khan - who belongs to the Pashtun majority from which the Taliban also draw their strength - as a hero for what he had done.
At least two civilians died in the militant attack and around 40 people were wounded.
The soldier alleged that Pakistan was behind the attack.
But the foreign ministry in Islamabad has issued a statement strongly condemning it and saying it is with Afghanistan "in our common struggle against terrorism".
Later it emerged that the vice-president, Abdul Rashid Dostum, had awarded Sgt Khan a new car, money and a medal.  At the same time some MPs have given him a month of their salaries.
Meanwhile the Afghan army says it has recaptured a key northern district taken by the Taliban a few days ago.
Chardara district in Kunduz province lies just a few kilometres from the provincial capital, Kunduz city, and its airport, and the main road to Kabul runs through it.
The army's commander of ground forces, Gen Morad Ali Morad, told Tolo News television he was speaking from the district and "most parts" of it had been retaken.
However a neighbouring district in the same province, Dasht-e-Archi, remains in rebel hands a day after they took it.


Illinois has become the last state in the US to allow residents to carry concealed handguns, after lawmakers overrode the governor's veto.

Large majorities in the state House and Senate dismissed objections by Democratic Governor Pat Quinn.
The state had been under court order to adopt a concealed carry law.
The debate over gun rights in the US has raged since December, when a gunman killed 26 people, including 20 children, at a school in Connecticut.
Gun rights proponents say the US constitution protects an individual's right to carry guns, while opponents of the concealed carry law feared it would allow virtually unregulated possession of handguns in the city of Chicago, which is grappling with a severe gun violence epidemic.
In December, a federal appeals court struck down Illinois' ban on carrying a concealed weapon as a violation of the US constitution's guarantee of the right to bear arms. The court gave the state six months to write a law legalising it.
Mr Quinn vigorously opposed a concealed carry law, but the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal.
In May, the state legislature passed a bill despite his objections. He vetoed the bill, suggesting restrictions on concealed weapons that would satisfy him.
On Tuesday, legislators in the House and Senate easily mustered a two-thirds majority needed to override Mr Quinn's veto, barely beating the court deadline.
"Following a weekend of horrific violence in Chicago in which at least 70 people were shot and 12 killed, this was the wrong move for public safety in Illinois," Mr Quinn said in a statement after the vote.
He said legislators had "surrendered" to the National Rifle Association, a powerful gun rights lobby funded in part by weapons manufacturers.
He warned the new law would allow people to carry guns in pubs and bars, and allow people to carry virtual arsenals on their persons.
Gun rights proponents, meanwhile, celebrated.
"This is a historic, significant day for law-abiding gun owners,'' Representative Brandon Harris, a southern Illinois Democrat said, according to the Associated Press.
Referring to the clause in the US constitution that refers to gun ownership, he said, "They finally get to exercise their Second Amendment rights."


It's been a series of thrills and spills, laughs and gaffes.

9 December 2016 Last updated at 16:10 GMT
Now we're at the semi-final and the competition is getting close between the four remaining dancers.
There's still everything to play for, or dance for should we say, and we are definitely going to be seeing some impressive moves from the likes of Ore, Danny, Claudia and Louise.
Check out our latest behind-the-scenes video diary from former Newsrounder Ore, to see how he and partner Joanne have been preparing.


In our series of letters from African journalists, Sola Odunfa ponders what might be a painful 12 months for Nigerians.

Over the last few days, everyone I have met - relative, friend or total stranger - has been offering me the traditional "Happy New Year" greeting.
Of course, we all know that there is nothing happy about our present circumstances and that there is nothing to be happy about in what we are seeing on the horizon.
The dollar-crazy Nigeria, which most of us abused unconscionably for several years, is dead and the new nation in its place has little more to offer than hard, hard work.
There is no sweet talk either from the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to ease the pain.
Sola Odunfa:
"As the economy remains in the doldrums, many Nigerians are asking how the disgrace of former officials will put food on their families' tables "
At every opportunity it reminds us to our face, quite rightly I'd say, that the treasury was looted and the government is broke - and is dealing with an $11bn (Â£7.4bn) budget deficit.
Police and prison cells are now being filled with former flamboyant politicians and others who are alleged to have stolen public funds on a scale unheard of even in Nigeria's corrupt history.
Despite voting in their millions last year for such justice to be meted out, hardly anyone is cheering the government today.
As the economy remains in the doldrums, many Nigerians are asking how the disgrace of former officials will put food on their families' tables.
Nigeria at glance:
Source: UN
Likewise, the seasonal greeting should ring hollow in Benin, Nigeria's western neighbour - when Nigeria sneezes, it triggers not only coughs but 'flu in Benin.
Most of the illegal goods found in Nigeria's markets are alleged to be smuggled through the port in Cotonou.
So huge was the business that in the past two years the tiny nation of about 10 million people imported more rice and frozen chicken than China and the UK.
Of course, practically all of it was smuggled into Nigeria. Now that Nigeria's government is taking action to seal that criminal route, our Beninois cousins must share our agony.
There is also no end to the petrol woes facing this oil-producing nation.
At Christmas I filled my car's tank and bought a little extra to meet the emergency situation that is looming.
The government announced a token reduction in the pump price of petrol, even though the product is in short supply, possibly to ease the financial burden on motorists and other transporters.
And now trade union leaders alerted their state organisers to start mobilising workers for a possible nationwide strike.
Their grouse is that the government says it will no longer subsidise the pump price of petrol - which it says costs about $5bn (Â£3.5bn) a year.
But it is of no concern to the unions that the government is broke, following years of looting by public office holders.
Well, fuel crises and strikes are no strangers to Nigerians.
Fuel queues have petered out in Lagos and Abuja, where motorists are buying at the nominally-reduced official prices.
But New Year has not brought any succour to motorists outside the two cities as fuel, where it's available, continues to sell for up to 50% above the official price.
Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, arrived in Abuja on Monday to discuss Nigeria's economic plight with President Buhari, leaders of the National Assembly and business people.
Her speeches were couched in such language as would not cause indigestion to her hosts but they were outspoken enough.
She did not tell the government to remove fuel subsidies, she only said that the subsidies were "hard to defend" and they "rarely help the poor".
She did not say the economy was in the doldrums but that there was a "massive infrastructure deficit and high levels of poverty and inequality".
She had a word too for the country's neighbours: "Nigeria has a large regional footprint and its fortunes affect that of its neighbours." He who has ears let them hear what the spirit is saying!
After all this should I still say "Happy New Year"?
Oh yes, I will because I know that whatever the horizon portends, Nigerians are survivors. Raise the palm wine calabash and toast: Happy New Year!
More from Sola Odunfa:


A "reckless" driver has been captured travelling along a motorway in Manchester with the car windscreen almost entirely covered by snow.

The car was filmed driving on the Barton Bridge section of the M60 earlier this week by another motorist's camera.
Greater Manchester Police said it was "incredibly reckless driving" and it was investigating the footage.
It is thought the driver was travelling at 50mph (80km/h) at the time.
A police spokesman said: "Not only is this motorist a risk to themselves and a risk to others, the driver is committing a criminal offence by driving with an impaired windscreen.
"It takes just ten minutes to defrost a windscreen but a split second to cause a serious accident."


Richard Murray has stepped down from his position of non-executive chairman of League One side Charlton Athletic because of illness.

Murray, who has been involved at boardroom level for more than 25 years, has several malignant tumours in his stomach which require surgery.
He became non-executive chairman when Belgian Roland Duchatelet took over the club in 2014.
Murray previously spent time as owner and chairman of the Addicks.
"Richard has done so much for the club and I know it was difficult for him to step down after being so intrinsically involved over the last 25 years," Duchatelet said in a statement on the club website.
"He is positive about his long-term prognosis though and all of us at Charlton look forward to seeing him back at The Valley very soon."


Leicester Cathedral has defended its decision to stage Shakespeare's Richard III a few feet from the monarch's final resting place.

The Richard III Society branded the decision as a "monumental mistake" which would be "humiliating" to the king.
However, the Very Revd David Monteith, Dean of Leicester, said the play would be "sensitive" towards him.
He was reburied at the cathedral in 2015 in a specially designed tomb.
The remains of the last Plantagenet monarch were placed under the cathedral two years ago, after they were discovered under a car park in the city in 2012.
Shakespeare's play is critical of the king, calling him a "poisonous bunch-back'd toad."
Philippa Langley, from the Richard III Society, is not against the play but is opposed to it being performed in Leicester Cathedral.
"To perform this play right beside this man's grave is quite frankly, a deliberate humiliation," she said.
"This is not what the great city of Leicester and its people is about."
Source: Royal Shakespeare Company
The Cathedral has said the show will go ahead as planned in July, despite the criticism.
"King Richard III lies in peace," Revd David Monteith told BBC East Midlands Today.
"What we now know is that he belongs to the whole nation and not just to one section of people particularly committed to his story.
"I've heard most people say how glad they are that Richard III, the Shakespeare play, will be performed here."
The play will also be performed at Peterborough, Ely, Gloucester, Bristol and Salisbury cathedrals in July.


Acidic oceans helped fuel the biggest mass extinction in the history of life on Earth, a study says.

The exact causes behind the Permian-Triassic mass extinction have been much debated.
Two separate pulses of CO2 into the atmosphere - a "one-two punch" - may have helped fuel the die-off, new research suggests.
Changes to ocean acidity would have been one of the consequences, according to the study in Science journal.
Computer models suggested that this CO2 may have been released by massive bouts of volcanism from the Siberian Traps, now represented as a large region of volcanic rock in northern Eurasia.
The Permian-Triassic mass extinction, which took place 252 million years ago, wiped out more than 90% of marine species and more than two-thirds of the animals living on land.
The event is thought to have played out over a 60,000-year period and acidification of the oceans lasted for about 10,000 years.
The team led by Dr Matthew Clarkson from the University of Edinburgh analysed rocks unearthed in the United Arab Emirates - which were on the ocean floor at the time.
The rocks preserve a detailed record of changing oceanic conditions at the time. They then developed a climate model to work out what drove the extinction.
The researchers think the rapid rate of release of carbon was a crucial factor in driving the ocean acidification.
The carbon was released at a similar rate to modern emissions. Dr Clarkson commented: "Scientists have long suspected that an ocean acidification event occurred during the greatest mass extinction of all time, but direct evidence has been lacking until now.
"This is a worrying finding, considering that we can already see an increase in ocean acidity today that is the result of human carbon emissions."


Millions of shoppers have been out in search of bargains as many retailers started their January sales early.

The Centre for Retail Research predicted 12.6 million people would hit the high streets on what has been dubbed "Panic Saturday", with just six days left until Christmas.
Experts said retailers had been left desperate to shift stock following disappointing Black Friday sales.
Discounts were expected to average 45%, financial advisory firm Deloitte said.
With six days remaining before Christmas Day on Friday, shoppers had been expected to embark on a Â£6bn  spending spree - up 23% compared with the the same period last year, when Christmas Day fell on the Thursday, researchers said.
Jason Gordon, consumer business partner at Deloitte, said: "Compared to 2014, there is already a noticeable increase in both the volume and value of discounts in the run-up to Christmas this year.
"Whilst this is good news for consumers looking to grab a bargain, it is a clear sign that retailers are being faced with what is now an annual uphill battle."
Gary Turnbull, general manager for Intu Braehead in Glasgow, said the shopping centre had been "extremely busy".
He added: "There's still another five shopping days left and I reckon it's only going to get even busier the closer we get to the big day."
The industry did not reap the rewards of Black Friday - a US shopping tradition imported across the Atlantic, where retailers offer discounts the day after American Thanksgiving in November to kickstart the Christmas shopping season.
Experts said this year's UK Black Friday failed to boost sales and many retailers did not make the discounts shoppers had been hoping for.
Meanwhile, it appears so-called "Mad Friday" did not produce a surge in alcohol-related arrests but emergency crews across the UK were certainly kept busy.
Charities and health campaigners had warned revellers to drink responsibly on Friday night, one of the busiest days of the year for UK pubs and clubs.
Chris Wood, from the West Midlands Ambulance Service, spent the night treating people who had over-indulged in Birmingham.
"Last night we saw 20% more workload than last year," he told the BBC.
"Certainly a great deal were drink-related - we saw about 50 patients in Birmingham city centre who were all alcohol-related."
Ch Insp Chris Matthews spoke to the BBC while patrolling Leeds city centre.
"Not overly busy from last Friday, and that's possibly because people are working into Monday Tuesday, Wednesday next week," he said.
"It's a really lively night, a really good-natured night in Leeds. So far we've had maybe 10% more calls in Leeds than we would have done."
Kevin Brown, deputy director of operations at the London Ambulance Service, told BBC Radio 5 live late on Friday night: "We will expect about 5,300 emergency calls each day, here in London.
"What we've seen in the last three hours is over 1,000 999 calls and we've identified in excess of a 100 of those relate to alcohol."
Greater Manchester Police tweeted: "As of 9.30pm, incidents recorded are up 12% on last Friday. Calls are also getting louder, judging by the raised volume in the room #madfriday".


French mosques have invited non-Muslims in to try to create greater understanding of Islam in France.

Visitors are being offered hot drinks, pastries, calligraphy demonstrations and discussion during the "open-house" weekend.
The country's leading Muslim body, the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), seeks to distance mainstream Islam from recent jihadist attacks.
The initiative comes a year after the Charlie Hebdo killings in Paris.
Jihadist gunmen killed 17 people at different Paris sites, including the offices of the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine and a kosher supermarket.
Marking the anniversary of the killings, President Francois Hollande unveiled a plaque on Saturday in tribute to one of those who died, policewoman Clarissa Jean-Philippe.
France also remembered the four Jewish hostages killed at the supermarket.
France is still under a state of emergency after November's Paris attacks, carried out by gunmen linked to the Islamic State group, which killed 130 people.
Hundreds of French mosques are taking part in the open-house event, dubbed a "brotherly cup of tea".
"The objective is to create a space where people can be together and meet normal Muslim worshippers and all of our fellow citizens," CFCM President Anouar Kbibech told AFP.
He said the CFCM wanted to use the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks to "highlight the real values of Islam, to set straight the cliches about links to violence and terrorism".


These are the tackling machines, the ravenous beasts who bring the opposition to ground time after time.

They range in style from tree fellers to hitmen to ball-and-all envelopers - but they all have one aim in common: to take their man down or out of the action.
They don't have to be forwards - as anyone who saw former England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson in action will attest - but it's no surprise my picks this year are forwards because that's where most of the bish bash goes on, close to the breakdown where the big men lurk.
This kid is a tackling machine who hardly ever misses his man - anyone carrying the ball into his channel is going down and he is so consistent that when he finally missed a tackle in this year's Six Nations it was newsworthy, as he didn't miss a single one in the 2016 tournament, making 58 with a 100% success rate.
So far this year, he's made a tournament-high 52 tackles - including a phenomenal 26 in the opening win over Ireland - but two missed attempts mean he 'only' has a 96% success rate.
He's not the biggest of hitters but he puts himself about to make the numbers and, still aged only 22, he has a long and potentially glorious future in the game ahead of him.
He has a well-deserved reputation for being a tree feller, a smash-and-wipe-out merchant who can wreak havoc on the opposition, but he's not the headless, full metal jacket type of player that some have claimed and is more controlled these days, which is great to see.
He's made 45 tackles so far with a 94% success rate and although he might be a touch behind Gray when it comes to consistency, he's certainly got the upper edge in explosive physicality.
Critics say he only levels half-backs, but how many other second rows have the speed to get out of the line and smash them, or cover across to lasso them after a 50-metre run? He can put anyone down when he times it well.
Another second row in the workhorse mould of Scotland's Gray, Launchbury has formed a superb locking partnership with Lawes for England this season - a remarkable illustration of their strength in depth, with fellow second rows Maro Itoje playing on the blind-side and George Kruis currently injured.
Despite being 6ft 5in and well over 18 stone he has unbelievable staying power, which all locks need these days.
He's made 46 tackles this season and although he may lack the sheer percussive impact of Lawes, the Wasps man brings a rumbustious presence to the heart of the England pack.
The France back row is not one of the game's glamour players, but in a struggling French team he brings a dogs of war spirit to their efforts.
He has a high work-rate and is a real nuisance of a player, shouldering a huge defensive burden to try to get France on the front foot again - he's the second-highest tackler in the tournament, with a solitary miss in 50 tackles.
Like Italy counterpart Maxime Mbanda, who has a similar attitude but misses the odd tackle in a way Gourdon does not, he is not the biggest of flankers. However, there is no doubting the size of his impact in 2017.
At 6ft 1in, Watson is another of the "smaller" players in this list - but another busy bee with a ferocious work ethic.
In Scotland's rearguard win against Ireland he made an astonishing 19 tackles in about 50 minutes of play - he was a human strimmer that day, chopping down men in green like blades of grass.
That performance alone was enough to catch everyone's eye and put him on the tackling map but he's continued in the same vein, having missed just one tackle all tournament.
He is one of the great footballing back rowers, but Tipuric is an amazing all-rounder, as he is proving this tournament with his tackling heroics.
As an open-side it is imperative he takes players out of the game and he does just that with his tackling excellence.
He leads the way for Wales with 43 tackles so far this tournament and has shown that he has the physicality to complement his skill set.
As always with these lists it's impossible to please everyone, but who do you insist should have definitely made the cut?
England flanker James Haskell might count himself unlucky not to have made the selection, and what about Scotland centre Alex Dunbar? Where's Jamie Heaslip? And no Alun Wyn Jones?
Use our interactive tool to rank Guscott's selections for yourselves, and join the debate below on who you think should be in the Six Nations wrecking crew.
Who tops your list?


Elisabet Purve-Jorendal was born in India and given away for adoption in 1973 when she was less than six months old.

A Swedish couple adopted her when she was two-and-a-half years old and gave her a new life.
Forty-two years later, she tracked down her biological mother and had an emotional reunion with the woman she had wondered about all her life.
Speaking over the phone from her home in Helsingborg on the Sweden-Denmark border, she told the BBC that meeting her mother was "nothing less than a miracle".
"My mother was 21 years old. She had been married to my father, a farmer, for three years when one day he came home after a fight with someone. He was very angry. He killed himself. He had consumed pesticides," Ms Purve-Jorendal said.
Her mother went to stay with her parents who wanted her to remarry and restart her life.
"But she was pregnant, and she didn't even know," says Ms Purve-Jorendal.
When the family discovered her pregnancy, they took her to a charity in Pune where she delivered a baby girl in September 1973. "I'm told that for a few months, she stayed at the centre, nursed me and looked after me."
When Ms  Purve-Jorendal turned two-and-a-half, she was adopted by a couple in Sweden who provided her a new home and a new life.
"But I always wondered about my mother in India. Who was she? How was she? Why did she leave me? I knew I needed to find her since I was a part of her. I wanted to get answers to all my questions."
Her adoptive parents were supportive of her quest, but others couldn't fathom why she would want to rake up the past. "You have a good life here. Leave her alone," they advised her.
Ms Purve-Jorendal began actively looking for her mother in 1998 and nearly two decades later, her search ended in a small village in Maharashtra.
At the outset, she didn't have much to go by - just the names of her mother and her grandfather that were in the adoption papers.
"I realised how hard it was to get anywhere with that. How do you find someone in a country of 1.2 billion people? It's like looking for a needle in a haystack. You must have the right connections, know how to press the right buttons."
In 2014, she contacted Against Child Trafficking (ACT), a voluntary organisation based in Belgium.
On 8 August last year, she received an email from ACT which said they had succeeded in tracing her mother and attached were some photos.
"I can't describe my feelings. Here was a person I had longed for my whole life and then I see her photograph. It was beyond imagination. It was a miracle."
A few days before her birthday in September, she flew halfway across the world to meet the woman who had given birth to her.
"And suddenly I was there. Outside her house, outside her door. A social worker had been in touch with her so she was expecting me. She was sitting down and stood up when she saw me. I had a blackout, I did not react. She was also shocked."
Ms Purve-Jorendal's mother has two children - a son and a daughter - from her second husband who died a few years ago. Today, she lives with her son, his wife and their children.
She has kept her first-born a secret so, with the daughter-in-law and grandchildren watching, "she swallowed her tears. And I had to do the same. I was told I couldn't cry".
Ms Purve-Jorendal was introduced to her brother as a cousin and the family still does not know the truth.
To be able to have a conversation with her mother, she invited her to her hotel.
"In the taxi, we found each other's hands. And for the two-hour-long ride, we kept holding hands.
"She said she didn't want to leave me. She wanted to take me with her, but she didn't have a choice. She didn't know I was in Sweden. She had no idea where I was. She said she'd thought she would never see me again."
Ms Purve-Jorendal says she was "taken aback" by the "striking resemblance" she has with her mother.
"My Indian family has a term for it, they say I'm like her 'carbon copy'. We don't just look like each other, we also have the same mannerisms, we use the same hand gestures, how we sit."
Growing up in a family where "everyone else was alike whereas I was different wasn't easy", Ms Purve-Jorendal says, adding that "it was like being on a different planet".
Now, she says, she no longer wants to live away from her mother.
"She's been carrying this huge burden for most of her life, of not being able to tell anyone. I want to be there for her, she's my mom, I want to be close to her so I'm going to try and live at least part of the year in India.
"She's my blood, my real roots."
Ms Purve-Jorendal spent two days in the village and when the time came to leave, it was a moment she says she would never forget.
"At our final meeting, I didn't want to leave her. I started crying. She was sitting next to me and as tears rolled down my cheeks, she wiped them with the corner of her sari and said, 'Don't cry my child.'
"At that moment, I knew she loved me."


Florida police are searching for a two-year-old boy who was dragged into water by an alligator near a Disney resort.

The boy was on the shoreline of the Seven Seas Lagoon by the Disney Grand Floridian Resort and Spa in Orlando when he was dragged away late on Tuesday, officials said.
The boy's father entered the water and tried in vain to grab him from the alligator's jaws, police said.
Fifty police and wildlife experts were searching for the boy, officials said.
"We are searching for a little boy to hopefully bring the family some comfort," said police spokesman Jeff Williamson.
Four alligators have so far been taken from the lake and killed for examination, but no evidence of the boy has been found, police said.
What are the world's deadliest animals?
The family with three children from the state of Nebraska were relaxing near the shore of the lagoon when the incident happened at 21:16 local time (01:16 GMT).
There is a "no swimming" sign on the man-made lagoon, but although the boy was on the edge of the water there was no indication he was swimming, Mr Williamson said.
His father sustained minor lacerations to his arm in the attempt to retrieve his child, he added.
The Grand Floridian is a luxury resort owned by Disney and is located near Disney's Magic Kingdom Park.
A Disney spokeswoman said the company was "devastated" by the incident.
Alligators live across Florida and are a "fundamental part" of its wetlands, swamps, rivers and lakes, state wildlife officials say.
Twenty-two people have been killed by alligators in Florida since 1948, they say.


School principals and governors must make "difficult decisions required to allow them to live within their budgets".

The warning comes in a letter from the finance director at the Department of Education (DE), Gary Fair.
Mr Fair said that schools were not allowed to "spend more than they receive."
He also warned that there were likely to be cuts to educational schemes for disadvantaged children.
In April, more than 40 head teachers in greater Belfast said they would refuse to implement more cuts to their budgets.
They said they would not take measures like laying off staff to save money, even if it pushed them into the red.
That was followed by a letter from 140 principals demanding an increase in school budgets.
In his letter, Mr Fair said that DE was facing major funding pressures.
He said the department: "is anticipating having to make spending reductions across a wide range of areas in order to live within its expected final budget allocation for 2017/18.
"Some other funding streams that also directly impact on schools, such as the Extended Schools and Entitlement Framework funding will unfortunately be affected."
The extended schools scheme gives schools in relatively disadvantaged areas some extra money.
They use this to provide things like breakfast and homework clubs, summer schemes and parenting support.
As a result, many schools will be unable to continue providing all of those extra services.
Other schools got some additional money to enable them to deliver joint classes to pupils in some subjects as part of the entitlement framework.
This is not the first time that Mr Fair has written to schools warning them about the education budget.
He had previously written to schools that they would need to make "difficult decisions" in 2017/18.


The London market doubled its lunchtime gains to close well over 1.3% after US shares rose on expectations of a rate rise this week.

The FTSE 100 index closed 78.15 at 6,968.57 points.
The index was boosted by a wide-ranging rally, with aero-engine maker Rolls-Royce, broadcaster ITV, airline group IAG all among the top risers.
But those expectations of a US interest rates pushed the price of metals lower, which hit mining shares.
Antofagasta fell 4% and Billiton 3%.
In the FTSE 250, Paysafe Group fell 17% after it denied allegations from Spotlight Research that claimed the company was enabling both illegal gambling and Chinese capital control evasion.
Shares in NCC Group dropped more than 7% after the cyber security firm issued a profit warning.
NCC had said in October that three contracts had been cancelled and one deferred, and in its latest update it said it did "not expect to make up this profitability in the current financial year".
Shares in Carpetright fell 7.5% after it reported a 42% drop in half-year profits to £4.1m.
The retailer admitted it had suffered a "challenging" first half, with consumer demand "uneven" and the fall in the pound raising the cost of imports.
However, Carpetright said the second half of its financial year had seen a "promising start", with like-for-like sales up 2.6%.
On the currency markets, the pound was given a slight boost by the latest inflation figures, which showed that inflation hit a higher-than-expected rate of 1.2% last month.
The pound was flat against the dollar at $1.2682 and 0.2% higher against the euro at €1.1942.


Business sense suggests you try to buy property at the lowest possible price, but that was not the case for one property in Sydney, Australia.

It was just bought by Chinese buyers for A$88,888,888.88.
The number eight is considered lucky in Chinese as it sounds like the word for "prosperity".
That luck might come in handy - the deal comes just as Sydney was awarded the fourth spot on UBS's global housing bubble index.
Sydney follows Vancouver, London and Stockholm in the ranking which seeks to identify the world's most risky real estate markets.
The lucky price of A$88,88m (US$68.2m; Â£52.5m) bought 333 Kent Street in Sydney's central business district.
Fortunately it's not a triple four address, as four is pronounced similarly to the word "death" and so considered unlucky.
The offer was made by Chinese firm Bridge Capital and Australian iProsperity Group, who plan to turn the property into a residential building and hotel with a view of the Darling Harbour.
"This is not the first time that Chinese buyers have chosen to offer a price that includes numbers that are considered lucky," Vince Kernahan of Colliers International, the real estate company handling the sale, told the BBC.
In this particular case, "the buyer's offer was very close to several other offers. They just chose these numbers for luck and as it turned out their luck was with them".
According to Swiss bank UBS, the housing market in Sydney "has been overheating since the city became a target for Chinese investors several years ago".
The bank's annual housing bubble index looks at real estate markets around the world to spot the ones where the price rise is "out of touch with fundamentals" and "out of proportion to differences in local economic growth and inflation rates".
The report said housing prices peaked in the second half of 2015 and since then been slightly corrected. But the growing demand from foreign investors has led to the residential market "tripling in value over the last three years."
"Increasing supply and further tax measures to reduce foreign housing investments may end the price boom rather abruptly."
According to the UBS index, Sydney is followed by Munich, Hong Kong and San Francisco.


A father and his young daughter have been rescued from waist-deep mud in a Bristol park.

The pair got stuck in a pond while walking around Oldbury Court Estate and are believed to have been there for an hour before being aided.
Avon Fire and Rescue Service said the man, thought to be in his 40s, and his daughter, aged about 11, were unharmed.
An inflatable walkway was used to reach the pair who had to be dug out before being taken to safety.
Oldbury Court Estate, which is owned by Bristol City Council, covers 300 acres (121 hectares) of parkland including woods, riverside paths and children's play areas.


Former Northants opener Mal Loye says he is excited by the challenge after becoming head coach of Bangladesh Cricket's high performance programme.

Loye, who made seven one-day international appearances for England, enjoyed a 20 year first-class career for Northants and Lancashire.
The 42-year-old begins work in Bangladesh next month.
Loye told BBC Radio Northampton the job would be tough, but he had taken it on to evolve as a person and a coach.
"Life out there has its challenges, but that's part of the reason I wanted to go, and the biggest challenge will actually be leaving my young family for a couple of months at a time," he admitted.
"But it's something I need to do for my career, and I'm really excited about working with international players again."
Loye scored over 15,000 first-class runs for Northamptonshire and Lancashire, almost 9,000 List A runs, and 1,246 runs in T20 matches. He retired in 2011, though has continued to play for Buckinghamshire.
He continued: "It's the next generation of players they're hoping to produce for that country, there'll be one or two players on the fringe of the full Bangladesh team, I guess it's like an "A" team in England terms, and a few under-19s as well."
Loye has been working as a coach at Wellingborough and Oundle schools, as well as providing expert commentary on his former county side for BBC Radio Northampton. He will work under Bangladesh national academy director of coaching Paul Terry.
"Paul is someone I played against and who I know pretty well," said Loye.
"I played around the world for 20 years, at first class and international level, I recently completed my level four coaching as well, and hopefully I'll be able to use that experience and knowledge to help transform promising players into international players."


Three men arrested on suspicion of murdering York chef Claudia Lawrence have been released on bail.

Miss Lawrence, who lived in Heworth Road, went missing on 19 March in 2009 when she was 35. Her body has never been found.
The men, all in their 50s and from the York area, were held on Wednesday.
Police said they have been bailed to allow detectives to follow up lines of inquiry.  A fourth man in his 50s, arrested in March, remains on bail.
A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "Although they have been released from custody, proceedings in this case - as they relate to them - remain active."
Det Supt Dai Malyn, from North Yorkshire Police, repeated his request that members of the public and the media did not identify any of the men involved because it could "cause serious harm" to the investigation.
Miss Lawrence's family have been informed and continue to receive support, police said.
The 35-year-old had left her home for work at the University of York at the time of her disappearance.
She was reported missing by her father, Peter, after concerns were raised when she failed to turn up for her shift.
North Yorkshire Police's major crime unit launched a review of the investigation in 2013.
Fresh searches of her home and an alleyway at the rear of the property were conducted but no-one has been charged over her death.
A 60-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder last May and was later released from bail.
A 47-year-old man held on suspicion of perverting the course of justice last July has also been released from bail.


BBC weather presenter Carol Kirkwood is the latest star to be announced as a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing 2015.

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18 August 2015 Last updated at 12:51 BST
The big news was announced live on BBC Breakfast.
Carol said: "I can't wait to learn to dance and hope my experience on Strictly will be a breeze. Whether it will be or not is one forecast I cannot predict!."
More celebrity contestants for the new series of Strictly Come Dancing will be announced in the coming weeks.


Drilling has begun at a fracking site in Lancashire.

Cuadrilla started drilling a pilot well on Thursday to identify the best locations for shale gas extraction at the Preston New Road site in Little Plumpton.
The pilot well approximately 3,500m (11,500 ft) deep will be followed by two horizontal wells.
Protests have been taking place at the site since work began to prepare for drilling in January.
Francis Egan, chief executive of Cuadrilla, said it is "an important milestone for the energy industry in the UK as well as the community in Lancashire".
Helen Rimmer from campaign group Friends of the Earth said the drilling means "local people will be subject to 24-hour noise, seven days a week, from a fracking project that they don't even want."
As per its agreement with the government, Cuadrilla has put Â£100,000 into a fund which the local community can use for projects in the area.
Fracking is the process of drilling down into the earth before a high-pressure water mixture is directed at the rock to release the gas inside.
Water, sand and chemicals are injected into the rock at high pressure which allows the gas to flow out to the head of the well.


Uber drivers have won the right to be classed as workers rather than self-employed.

The ruling by a London employment tribunal means drivers for the ride-hailing app will be entitled to holiday pay, paid rest breaks and the national minimum wage.
The GMB union described the decision as a "monumental victory" for some 40,000 drivers in England and Wales.
Uber said it would appeal against the ruling that it had acted unlawfully.
The San Francisco-based company had argued that its drivers were not employees but self-employed contractors.
The ruling accused Uber of "resorting in its documentation to fictions, twisted language and even brand new terminology", adding: "The notion that Uber in London is a mosaic of 30,000 small businesses linked by a common 'platform' is to our mind faintly ridiculous."
"This is a monumental victory that will have a hugely positive impact on drivers," said Maria Ludkin, legal director at the GMB, which brought the case.
Drivers and campaigners hail Uber ruling
What does Uber employment ruling mean?
The TUC said the case had exposed the "dark side" of the UK's labour market.
General secretary Frances O'Grady said: "For many workers the gig economy is a rigged economy, where bosses can get out of paying the minimum wage and providing basics like paid holidays and rest breaks.
"What is happening at Uber is just the tip of the iceberg. Lots of people are now trapped in insecure jobs, with low pay and no voice at work. We need the government to get tough on sham self-employment."
Jo Bertram, Uber's UK manager, said: "Tens of thousands of people in London drive with Uber precisely because they want to be self-employed and their own boss.
"The overwhelming majority of drivers who use the Uber app want to keep the freedom and flexibility of being able to drive when and where they want. While the decision of this preliminary hearing only affects two people, we will be appealing it."
Two drivers, James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam, argued that their actions were controlled by Uber, which meant they were employed by the firm - but that they did not have basic workers' rights.
Mr Farrar said his net earnings in August 2015 after expenses were Â£5.03 an hour. Mr Aslam no longer drives for Uber.
Nigel Mackay from law firm Leigh Day, which represented the two drivers, said: "This judgment acknowledges the central contribution that Uber's drivers have made to Uber's success by confirming that its drivers are not self-employed, but that they work for Uber as part of the company's business.
"This is a ground-breaking decision. It will impact not just on the thousands of Uber drivers working in this country, but on all workers in the so-called gig economy whose employers wrongly classify them as self-employed and deny them the rights to which they are entitled."
Martin Warren, partner and head of labour relations at Eversheds, said the ruling may not mean other cases brought by workers in the "on-demand economy" will have similar success.
"Each case will depend on the specific terms and arrangements between the individual and the company they work for. Nevertheless other firms who rely heavily on the 'on-demand' freelance workforce will be watching cases like this keenly," he said.
Alex Bearman, partner at Russell-Cooke solicitors, said Uber could look to meet any additional costs by increasing the percentage of each fare that it kept as commission: "It seems likely that this decision will be appealed and we may not see a final determination for some time to come."
Sahrab Shinwari from Hayes, west London, has driven for Uber for the past 18 months and welcomed the decision: "We used to do less hours and make more money. Business has gone down. We can't work on minimum wage - we can't maintain a car on that. Uber don't provide us with a car. Holiday and sick pay is perfect, but the minimum wage isn't."
Steven Rowe, however, is disappointed: "I don't see myself as being employed. I don't see myself as a worker for Uber. I see myself as being my own boss, making my own decisions ... It might be a success for two Uber drivers, but I think the vast majority of us will be really, really worried about whether Uber can run the really successful way they've operated in this country."
A Department for Business spokesperson said: "We are keen to ensure our employment rules keep up to date to reflect new ways of working and that's why the government has asked Matthew Taylor to conduct an independent review into modern working practices."
Shadow business minister Jack Dromey told the BBC: "Uber are going to have to fundamentally rethink how they operate in this country."


Manchester United produced a ruthless attacking display at Old Trafford to ensure they will top the Premier League table this Christmas.

Two goals in four first-half minutes ultimately decided this as a contest, with Robin van Persie and Tom Cleverley firing in to put Sir Alex Ferguson's side firmly in control.
Wayne Rooney tapped in from close range to make it 3-0 just before the hour mark but Sunderland kept fighting and deservedly pulled a goal back through substitute and former United striker Fraizer Campbell.
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The result maintains United's six-point lead over Manchester City.
Having seen the title go to the club which has topped the table at Christmas in each of the past three seasons, this display will no doubt add to their growing belief.
Martin O'Neill faces a far more difficult festive period.
The Sunderland manager may retain the firm backing of the club's decision-makers but only three victories from their last 25 league matches brings its own pressures, especially considering the fact that three of their next four games are against Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool.
The history books had suggested it might be a long day for the visitors. Their last victory at Old Trafford came on 11 May, 1968 - a day Manchester City pipped United to the league title.
United had endured the same painful outcome when the clubs last met in May. Ferguson and his players had not forgotten the reaction of the Sunderland fans when news of City's late goals reached the Stadium of Light, and it showed.
This was an dominant display, inspired by Michael Carrick in midfield, Ashley Young's prodigious work on the wings, sublime finishing by Van Persie and a workrate and ambition that was, at times, a sight to behold.
Robin van Persie's goal was the 1500th scored at Old Trafford under manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
It was a performance that added weight to the argument that last week's Manchester derby was more than just a localised tremor. With United in this form and Nemanja Vidic available to shore up a leaky defence, the hope among those at Old Trafford is that perhaps it was the first signs of a seismic shift back towards the red half of Manchester.
Even accounting for the poverty of the football coming the other way, United's attacking play was rapier sharp, their finishing ruthless. For all Sunderland's energy and dedication late on, they were simply outclassed and outpassed for too much of this contest.
The damage was done in four first-half minutes, as United warmed to their task. Young was a constant menace, tormenting Carlos Cuellar with a series of lung-busting runs, full of twists and turns. One such surge down the left took him to the bye-line where he shrugged off a muscular challenge by Cuellar, twisted beyond Sebastian Larsson and crossed.
The ball deflected off John O'Shea's leg, Van Persie killed it with his first touch and sent it high beyond Sunderland goalkeeper Simon Mignolet with his second. Simple but sublime.
A second goal soon followed, as Cleverley swept a curling shot in from just inside the penalty area after a delightful exchange with Carrick.
Rooney, who was always on the same wavelength as Van Persie, was finding space with alarming regularity and might have scored two of his own. One volleyed effort flashed inches wide from the Dutchman's clever knock-down.
Another to stand out was Phil Jones, whose running from deep with tireless energy and ambition constantly challenged the visitors.
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And yet Sunderland, driven on by O'Neill who didn't leave the touchline, kept pushing. James McClean might have done better having robbed Rio Ferdinand but only shoot straight at David De Gea from a narrow angle, while Patrice Evra headed Stephane Sessegnon's shot over the bar.
Substitute Conor Wickham tested De Gea, as did a deflected McClean effort but the game was decided just before the hour mark when Rooney and Van Persie combined again to devastating effect.
Young freed the Netherlands international on the left of the penalty area, who tricked his way beyond Cuellar and Titus Bramble before squaring to Rooney who tapped in.
The game all but settled, United were able to bring Vidic into the action after three months on the sidelines with a knee injury.
Three minutes later, Sunderland scored when Campbell rose majestically at the back post to head in Sessegnon's clever cross from the left.
Wickham tested De Gea again as full-time approached, a reminder to Ferguson that for all his side's attacking verve, their weakness at the back will need to be addressed if they are to regain the title at the first time of asking.
Full Time   The referee brings the game to a close.
Sebastian Larsson takes a inswinging corner from the left by-line to the near post.
Short corner taken by Wayne Rooney.
Patrice Evra concedes a free kick for a foul on Fraizer Campbell. Direct free kick taken by Sebastian Larsson. Header from close range by Connor Wickham clears the bar.
Close range header by Robin van Persie goes wide of the left-hand post.
Free kick crossed right-footed by Sebastian Larsson, Robin van Persie manages to make a clearance.
Substitution      Jack Colback goes off and James McFadden comes on.
Antonio Valencia gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Jack Colback.
Ryan Giggs sends in a cross, Titus Bramble makes a clearance.
Connor Wickham takes a shot. David De Gea makes a save.
Free kick awarded for a foul by Jack Colback on Antonio Valencia. Phil Jones takes the direct free kick.
The assistant referee signals for offside against Robin van Persie.  Free kick taken by Simon Mignolet.
Inswinging corner taken by Sebastian Larsson from the left by-line played to the near post, Nemanja Vidic manages to make a clearance.
Jack Colback fouled by Paul Scholes, the ref awards a free kick. Free kick taken by Simon Mignolet.
Corner taken short by Robin van Persie.
Foul by Fraizer Campbell on Ashley Young, free kick awarded. Direct free kick taken by Ashley Young.
Robin van Persie fouled by John O'Shea, the ref awards a free kick. Free kick taken by Ryan Giggs.
Titus Bramble challenges Wayne Rooney unfairly and gives away a free kick. Direct free kick taken by Patrice Evra.
Fraizer Campbell delivers the ball, Nemanja Vidic manages to make a clearance.
Substitution      (Man Utd) makes a substitution, with Ryan Giggs coming on for Tom Cleverley.
Stephane Sessegnon provided the assist for the goal.
Goal!  - Fraizer Campbell -    Man Utd 3 - 1 Sunderland        Fraizer Campbell finds the net with a headed goal from inside the six-yard box. Man Utd 3-1 Sunderland.
Stephane Sessegnon sends in a cross,
Stephane Sessegnon takes a shot. David De Gea makes a save. Corner from right by-line taken by Sebastian Larsson.
John O'Shea challenges Robin van Persie unfairly and gives away a free kick. Direct free kick taken by Paul Scholes.
Substitution      Fraizer Campbell on for Adam Johnson.
Substitution      (Man Utd) makes a substitution, with Nemanja Vidic coming on for Rio Ferdinand.
Foul by Paul Scholes on Adam Johnson, free kick awarded. Direct free kick taken by Jack Colback.
Connor Wickham takes a shot. Rio Ferdinand gets a block in. Effort on goal by Craig Gardner from just outside the penalty area goes harmlessly over the target.
Sebastian Larsson takes a inswinging corner from the left by-line played to the near post.
Ashley Young concedes a free kick for a foul on Sebastian Larsson. The free kick is swung in left-footed by Adam Johnson, clearance by Chris Smalling.
Stephane Sessegnon challenges Patrice Evra unfairly and gives away a free kick. Patrice Evra takes the direct free kick.
Assist on the goal came from Robin van Persie.
Goal!  - Wayne Rooney -    Man Utd 3 - 0 Sunderland        Wayne Rooney gets on the score sheet with a goal from close range to the bottom left corner of the goal. Man Utd 3-0 Sunderland.
Connor Wickham produces a right-footed shot from just outside the area that goes harmlessly over the target.
Antonio Valencia gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Jack Colback. Direct free kick taken by John O'Shea.
The ball is crossed by James McClean, Paul Scholes gets a block in. Inswinging corner taken by Sebastian Larsson from the left by-line played to the near post.
Chris Smalling gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Connor Wickham. John O'Shea restarts play with the free kick.
Chris Smalling fouled by Carlos Cuellar, the ref awards a free kick. Direct free kick taken by David De Gea.
Connor Wickham is caught offside. Rio Ferdinand takes the indirect free kick.
Craig Gardner concedes a free kick for a foul on Ashley Young. Free kick taken by Paul Scholes.
Robin van Persie produces a left-footed shot from the edge of the box and misses to the left of the target.
Craig Gardner takes a shot. Save by David De Gea. Stephane Sessegnon takes a shot. Blocked by David De Gea. Corner taken right-footed by Sebastian Larsson, David De Gea makes a save.
Wayne Rooney takes a shot. Ashley Young produces a right-footed shot from close range that goes over the bar.
The referee blows his whistle to start the second half.
Substitution      Connor Wickham is brought on as a substitute for Steven Fletcher.
Substitution      Paul Scholes comes on in place of Michael Carrick.
Half Time    The referee blows for half time.
James McClean takes a shot. Save by David De Gea.
Free kick awarded for an unfair challenge on Stephane Sessegnon by Wayne Rooney. Jack Colback takes the direct free kick.
Antonio Valencia crosses the ball, clearance by Titus Bramble.
Inswinging corner taken left-footed by Robin van Persie played to the near post, Patrice Evra has a header from inside the six-yard box and clears the crossbar.
Shot from just outside the box by Tom Cleverley goes over the target.
Inswinging corner taken right-footed by Sebastian Larsson from the left by-line to the near post, clearance made by Rio Ferdinand. Stephane Sessegnon takes a shot. Patrice Evra gets a block in. Corner from the left by-line taken by Sebastian Larsson, David De Gea makes a save. Titus Bramble gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on David De Gea. David De Gea takes the direct free kick.
Ashley Young gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Adam Johnson. Direct free kick taken by Sebastian Larsson.
Michael Carrick takes a shot. Titus Bramble gets a block in. Inswinging corner taken from the left by-line by Wayne Rooney.
Inswinging corner taken from the right by-line by Robin van Persie.
Craig Gardner takes a shot. Blocked by Michael Carrick. Inswinging corner taken left-footed by Adam Johnson played to the near post, David De Gea makes a save.
Antonio Valencia is caught offside. Free kick taken by Simon Mignolet.
James McClean takes a shot. Blocked by David De Gea.
Tom Cleverley gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Adam Johnson. Sebastian Larsson takes the free kick.
The ball is sent over by Patrice Evra, Headed effort from deep inside the area by Wayne Rooney misses to the left of the goal.
Wayne Rooney has an effort at goal from deep inside the area missing to the left of the goal.
Free kick awarded for a foul by Tom Cleverley on Sebastian Larsson. Free kick taken by Sebastian Larsson.
Assist by Michael Carrick.
Goal!  - Tom Cleverley -    Man Utd 2 - 0 Sunderland        Tom Cleverley fires in a goal from inside the penalty area to the bottom right corner of the goal. Man Utd 2-0 Sunderland.
Robin van Persie takes a shot. Save by Simon Mignolet. Corner taken by Robin van Persie played to the near post, clearance made by Craig Gardner.
Antonio Valencia gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Jack Colback. Simon Mignolet takes the free kick.
Assist on the goal came from Ashley Young.
Goal!  - Robin van Persie -    Man Utd 1 - 0 Sunderland        Robin van Persie fires in a goal from inside the penalty box to the top left corner of the goal. Man Utd 1-0 Sunderland.
Centre by Ashley Young.
Adam Johnson gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Patrice Evra. Direct free kick taken by Tom Cleverley.
Inswinging corner taken by Wayne Rooney, Steven Fletcher manages to make a clearance. Shot from deep inside the area by Patrice Evra goes over the bar.
Corner taken left-footed by Robin van Persie, Simon Mignolet makes a clearance. Ashley Young takes a shot. Save made by Simon Mignolet. Corner taken right-footed by Wayne Rooney to the near post, save by Simon Mignolet.
Free kick awarded for a foul by Antonio Valencia on Stephane Sessegnon. John O'Shea restarts play with the free kick.
Phil Jones sends in a cross, save by Simon Mignolet.
The referee gets the game underway.
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Grimsby Town have signed Northampton Town full-back Evan Horwood on loan until the end of the season.

Horwood has not played this term, with fellow left-back David Buchanan the only ever-present for the Cobblers.
The 29-year-old has made 26 appearances for the League Two side since joining permanently in 2014 and is out of contract in the summer.
He has joined a Grimsby side third in the National League, 12 points off the top, but with two games in hand.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.


One man was killed and two people were injured in a crash involving three lorries and a car on the M40.

The northbound accident was at 02:30 BST between junctions 11 and 12, near the Oxfordshire and Warwickshire border.
Motorists were held on the road overnight. It reopened at 14:30 BST.
West Midlands Ambulance Service said: "Sadly nothing could be done to save the driver of one lorry, a man, and he was confirmed dead on scene."
The statement added: "A second lorry driver, a man in his 50s, was found to have sustained minor arm injuries and neck pain.
"He was given treatment by ambulance staff before being discharged on scene.
"A third patient, with minor injuries, was treated by our South Central colleagues."


Jack Straw has criticised the publication of private letters sent by Prince Charles to government ministers.

The former foreign secretary accused the Supreme Court of exceeding its power in ordering that the so-called "black spider memos" be released.
The 27 letters reveal the prince expressing concerns to then PM Tony Blair and other Labour ministers.
A 10-year government battle to keep them secret was declared unlawful by the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.
Despite having helped to write the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act under which the memos were published, Mr Straw told the BBC he was "very much on the side of those" who said they should have been kept secret.
He said it was "absolutely essential" that Prince Charles had been able to offer his views in private, adding that if the public was entitled to know what he was saying it would "stop him saying anything at all to ministers".
The former Labour minister, who was suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party at his own request in February after facing cash-for-access accusations, has heavily criticised the FOI Act since helping pass the bill in 2000.
He said: "Although the Freedom of Information Act, for a variety of reasons, was in its conception and execution a bit of a dog's breakfast, Parliament was absolutely clear that there should be protection for this kind of correspondence, and if necessary the attorney general could be given the right of veto.
"One of the really worrying aspects of this case which has not received enough attention is that the Supreme Court, on a split decision, decided in their wisdom to literally rewrite what parliament had decided."
The "black spider memos" - named after the appearance of the Prince's handwriting  - were published after a decade-long campaign by the Guardian.
They reveal that the prince wrote to Labour ministers to express his views on a wide variety of topics, including historic buildings, herbal medicine, healthy food and the plight of the albatross.
Campaigners have welcomed the publication of the letters. Graham Smith, chief executive of anti-monarchy campaign group Republic, said they revealed the prince's "meddling" with government business.
Former Labour Environment Secretary Dame Margaret Beckett said the release was "unfortunate".
"If he had known his letters were going to be published he might have couched them in different terms," she said.


A man has been found not guilty of 10 counts of fraud over claims he mis-sold chalets at a holiday park.

William Flannigan was alleged to have sold properties at Lakeminster Park, Beverley, east Yorkshire, as permanent homes despite knowing they could only be used for holiday purposes.
However, Judge Paul Watson QC told Hull Crown Court there was no case to answer due to a lack of evidence.
Mr Flannigan, 51, of Wilmslow, Cheshire, had denied the charges.
More stories from across East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire
The judge instructed the jury to return not guilty verdicts on all the counts, marking the end of a nine-week trial.
Speaking outside court, Mr Flannigan said it "felt good" to have been cleared.
Prosecutors had alleged that he "made significant financial gains" after making a number of "untrue statements" over a number of years.
Barrister David Gordon told jurors Mr Flannigan "knew perfectly well" the park did not have the relevant planning permission.
Residents moved in to Lakeminster Park in 2008 but in 2011 were told they could not live there all year round as the site did not have the required planning permission.
An application for retrospective planning permission was refused in 2012 and, after a series of inquiries, homeowners were issued with eviction notices in September 2014.
During the trial, Mr Flannigan's barrister claimed he had been the victim of a plot to deflect scrutiny away from East Riding of Yorkshire Council.
A spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service said it had considered there to be "sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction" but that it respected the judge's decision.


The election of the climate sceptic Donald Trump as US president will not sway UK leadership on the issue, a minister has said.

Mr Trump, reported to believe climate change is "mostly bunk", has threatened to withdraw from the UN climate deal.
Environment Minister Nick Hurd admitted the Trump victory was "a very big rock chucked in the pool".
But he said the world - including the UK - would continue working to curb emissions without the US if necessary.
Mr Hurd also stressed that it was impossible to be sure at the moment exactly what Mr Trump's policies would be.
Mr Trump's supporters say rules on climate and energy are stifling business.
Details of his climate policy are not yet clear, but his team has talked about boosting coal, opening new oil pipelines, and allowing mining on public wilderness or drilling in the Arctic.
Mr Hurd told the cross-party Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee that President Obama had led the way in partnership with China towards the Paris climate deal at the end of 2015.
Its commitments, agreed to by almost 200 countries, included:
Mr Hurd told MPs: "The progress that's been made in terms of the momentum behind the international process and the seriousness [with] which this is taken - not just by governments but by the private sector and capital markets - [means] we're in a completely different place.
"We have seen a step change in momentum.
"The Trump election is a challenge to that, but there has been a gear change in 2015-16, and it's very hard to overstate the importance of the Paris agreement - if countries do what they say they want to do."
He said the private sector was now mostly supportive of the low-carbon economy, and wanted to seize the economic opportunity it offered.
The move in this direction globally was now irreversible, he said.
The key was to drive down the cost of the transition.
Mr Hurd said the UK government would keep its commitment to long-term CO2 targets and its long-delayed emissions reduction plan would be published before the end of March.
Mr Hurd admitted the UK was lagging in its plans for cleaning up heating and transport.
He said: "We have seen the future of transport, and the future is electric."
But he acknowledged that the government needed to do more accelerate the pace of change.
Questioned on climate change and Brexit, he said many questions were unresolved:
Follow Roger on Twitter @rharrabin


Unlicensed slimming pills with an estimated value of £30,000 have been seized by enforcement officers.

About 23,000 pills were taken during a raid in Waterlooville, Hampshire, by officers working for the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
MHRA is responsible for regulating all UK medicines and medical devices.
Some of the drugs were marked "herbal", but actually contained the banned pharmaceutical ingredient sibutramine.
Sibutramine was licensed as the medicine Reductil until 2010, when it was withdrawn across Europe and the US because of an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes associated with the use of the drug, the MHRA said.
The agency's head of operations, Danny Lee-Frost, said: "The action we have taken to seize these products demonstrates our total commitment to tackling this dangerous and illegal trade and to protecting patients.
"Criminals involved in the illegal supply of medical products aren't interested in your health - they are only interested in your money."
He said that the pills "may contain dangerous ingredients" and warned that the "consequences (of taking them) could be devastating".
Mr Lee-Frost added: "The internet offers access to a vast number of websites offering a wide range of products marketed as 'slimming pills' or 'diet pills'. Many make attractive claims and offer quick-fix solutions. Be aware that 'natural' doesn't always mean safe."


West Ham will face Romanian side Astra Giurgiu in the Europa League play-off round.

The Hammers were knocked out of the competition by the same team in the third qualifying round last season.
Slaven Bilic's men progressed to this round with a 4-2 aggregate win over Slovenian side NK Domzale.
The Premier League side travel to Romania for the first leg on 18 August before hosting the return leg at their new London Stadium on 25 August.
The draw means both English teams in European play-off ties face Romanian sides, with Manchester City drawn with Steaua Bucharest in the Champions League.
Astana (Kazakhstan) v Bate Borisov (Belarus)
FC Midtjylland (Denmark) v Osmanlispor (Turkey)
AS Trencin (Slovakia) v Rapid Vienna (Austria)
Arouca (Portugal) v Olympiakos (Greece)
Lokomotiva Zagreb (Croatia) v Genk (Belgium)
Vojvodina (Serbia) v AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands)
Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia) v PAOK Salonika (Greece)
AEK Larnaca (Cyprus) v Liberec (Czech Republic)
FK Austria Vienna (Austria) v Rosenborg (Norway)
Beitar Jerusalem (Israel) v St Etienne (France)
AA Gent (Belgium) v Shkendija (Macedonia)
Istanbul Basaksehir (Turkey) v Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)
FC Astra Giurgiu (Romania) v West Ham (England)
Sonderjyske (Denmark) v Sparta Prague (Czech Republic)
Fenerbahce (Turkey) v Grasshoppers (Switzerland)
Sassuolo (Italy) v Crvena Zvezda (Serbia)
Brondby (Denmark) v Panathinaikos (Greece)
IFK Gothenburg (Sweden) v FK Qarabag (Azerbaijan)
Krasnodar (Russia) v Partizani Tirana (Albania)
Maccabi Tel-Aviv (Israel) v Hajduk Split (Croatia)
Slavia Prague (Czech Republic) v Anderlecht (Belgium)
Maribor (Slovenia) v Gabala (Azerbaijan)


Nicola Sturgeon has dismissed the UK government's plans for a post-Brexit customs deal with the EU as a "daft 'have cake and eat it' approach".

Ministers have set out plans for an "ambitious new customs arrangement" with the EU after the UK leaves.
This could include a "temporary customs union" after March 2019 to prevent border problems during the process.
However, the first minister said the UK "should commit to staying in the single market and customs union, period".
The customs arrangements document is the first in a series of papers to be published by the Westminster government on key negotiation issues. Businesses had called for clarity since the UK announced it was leaving the EU's tariff-free trading area.
Ministers said the plans would mean the "freest and most frictionless possible trade" with the rest of Europe.
The newly-published paper says the UK could ask Brussels to establish a "temporary customs union" after it leaves the EU in March 2019. During this period it would also expect to be able to negotiate its own international trade deals, which it cannot currently do as a customs union member.
Once any temporary arrangement expired, the paper says the UK would look to agree either a "highly streamlined" border with the EU or a new "partnership" with no customs border at all.
The plan has drawn a mixed response, with Labour's shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer calling it "incoherent and inadequate" and "fantastical and contradictory". However, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said it was "encouraging", and the Institute of Directors said it was "hugely positive step".
Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament's Brexit negotiator, tweeted that the idea of "invisible borders" was "a fantasy".
Ms Sturgeon posted an initial reaction to the customs union plan on Twitter, saying: "Seems UK gov is back to its daft 'have cake and eat it' approach to Brexit. They should commit to staying in single market and customs union, period."
End of Twitter post  by @NicolaSturgeon
Speaking in Montrose, where the Scottish government's cabinet held a meeting prior to a public discussion event, the SNP leader told BBC Scotland that the plan "would almost be laughable" if the issues involved were not so serious.
She said: "You've got the UK government appearing to say that they don't want to say in 'the' customs union, but they want to stay in 'a' customs union, which would be pretty much identical to the European customs union that we're in already. It's nonsensical and ridiculous.
"I think it increasingly makes the UK government look like a bit of a laughing stock.
"I wish we weren't leaving the EU, but if the UK is leaving the EU then the common sense thing to do is to stay in the single market and to stay in the customs union. Because that will mean we can continue to export goods and services and continue to travel freely like we can today.
"I think the sooner we get into a common sense position the better."
Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis said he envisioned the future settlement being "as close as we can to the current arrangements".
Ms Sturgeon hit out at this, saying: "Why don't we just stay in the customs union? If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's a duck.
"They seem to be going to great lengths to differentiate something that is pretty much identical to the customs union from the customs union. That's what makes, I think, the UK government increasingly look a bit ridiculous."
While customs is a reserved matter, the paper says the UK government is "committed" to working with devolved administrations "to understand the practical impact of new arrangements. It notes "specific issues" such as the Irish border and "implications" for ports in Scotland and Wales.
Mr Davis said: "We will take on board their concerns but our primary aim is to look after the people of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This is aimed to help them.
"For example, in NI we want to have an invisible border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and in Scotland we want people who are running businesses there to have frictionless trade, and that's what it's about."
Scottish and UK ministers are set for further talks about Brexit in the coming weeks after the most recent summit in Edinburgh ended in stalemate.


Former FIA president Max Mosley says Formula 1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone's role "won't change" if a takeover of the sport is completed.

Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is working with investors from Qatar to buy a stake in the sport.
"He is very amazing, the way he keeps going. Most of us at a certain age get tired," Mosley, 75, told Radio 5 live.
F1 owners CVC Capital Partners and Ross's RSE Ventures have had talks but no formal offer has yet been made.
Negotiations are at an early stage and the group is just one of a number of potential bidders interested in a potential takeover of the motorsport series.
Ecclestone, 84, has been in charge of the sport since 1978 and Mosley feels he will continue in his role even if the ownership changes.
"He is the person who has managed to sell it [F1] everywhere," said Mosley. "I am sure CVC have had thoughts about an 84-year-old chief executive. There is nobody else who does the job as well.
"I said to him the other day: 'Don't you feel tired in the afternoons?' He said that the phone calls come in and the emails come in and that gets adrenaline going.
"He's very interested in what he does and does it very well. Age tends to be flexible."
Former F1 driver Mark Webber recently said the sport is "not in great shape", while Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said an independent adviser could help improve F1.
However, despite the criticisms, world champion Lewis Hamilton said he still feels "massively challenged every weekend".
Mosley says the competitiveness needs to be brought back into the sport.
"You want the best players racing as fast as they can," he said. "You don't want drivers thinking about fuel consumption or tyres.
"There have been a few strategic errors. The fundamental thing is that it has become so expensive you can spend what you want.
"The two or threes teams at the top spend what they want, then the ones at the bottom struggle. That interferes with the grid. You need to make the small teams competitive.
"The way to solve the problem is to tell the smaller team you can have more technical freedom but you work in a cost cut. It needs a fairly determined attack on the current structure."