BBC Breakfast host mortified as passer-by hijacks live report with rant about ‘greedy’ TV licence fee
A BBC Breakfast host was left mortified as a passer-by hijacked a live report with a rant about the ‘greedy’ TV licence fee.
Today’s show saw Jon Kay and Sally Nugent on the BBC Breakfast sofa covering the latest news, including the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester and the ongoing drama surrounding the HS2 train link between London and Manchester.
Reporter Peter Ruddick was live from outside Manchester Piccadilly station to give the anchors the latest updates on whether the HS2 from the city will be scrapped.
He said: “Passengers here are fairly used to uncertainty these days,” Peter began.
“There has been in recent days a palpable sense of a lack of surprise around these reports.
“There are a few people who would welcome the cancellation of HS2 – there are concerns about the costs, about delays to the project and questions about the reported benefits of this scheme.
“It does now seem increasingly likely…”
But as he spoke, a man in a tracksuit, hi-vis jacket and hat suddenly burst in over his shoulder and angrily jabbed his finger at the camera.
He shouted: “Slash the TV licence fee you greedy…”
As he continued to rant and Peter looked mortified, the sound was faded out and then the picture cut back to a slightly startled Sally in the studio.
As she scrambled to fill the unexpected gap, she said: “Er, Peter having a little bit of unwanted attention there.
“So let’s move on shall we for a moment? We’re going to talk about HS2 quite a lot this morning.”
A TV licence currently costs £159 a year, with people over the age of 74 and accessing Pension Credit able to apply for a free licence.
BBC Breakfast airs weekdays from 6am on BBC One.