GMB: Charlotte Hawkins delivers breaking news
Good Morning Britain's Charlotte Hawkins made a sudden interruption during the live show to deliver some breaking news. On Friday's (December 13) episode of the popular ITV breakfast programme, Kate Garraway and Adil Ray were presenting the day's headlines.
However, it was Charlotte's segment that grabbed viewers' attention as she announced that Royal Mail had been slapped with a substantial fine for failing to meet its targets.
Addressing the audience, Charlotte revealed: "Now some breaking news, in the last hour the regulator Ofcom has fined Royal Mail £10.5M for failing to meet its delivery targets in 2023/24. 74.7% of first class mail and 92.7% of second class mail was delivered on time but that's well short of its target of 93% and 98.5%."
She continued: "The company blames its poor performance on its challenging financial precision and delays to a deal that followed the previous year's strict action. Ofcom said it did not consider either of these to be justifiable reasons for Royal Mail's failure."
The penalty is nearly twice the amount Royal Mail was fined last year for the same issue, when Ofcom imposed a £5.6 million penalty in November 2023.
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Ofcom stated that Royal Mail's subpar service was "now eroding public trust in one of the UK's oldest institutions," reports the Mirror.
Ian Strawhorne, Ofcom's director of enforcement, criticised Royal Mail for its subpar service. He stated: "With millions of letters arriving late, far too many people aren't getting what they pay for when they buy a stamp."
He further added that "Royal Mail's poor service is now eroding public trust in one of the UK's oldest institutions."
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He also revealed that this was the second time the company had been fined since the pandemic began.
While acknowledging an improvement plan from Royal Mail and some signs of progress, he insisted that the company must make more rapid strides to meet customer expectations.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Royal Mail, as reported by GB News, emphasised that delivering high-quality service is "extremely important to us" and assured that necessary changes are being implemented to achieve their targets.
Good Morning Britian airs weekdays from 6am on ITV and ITVX
