A BBC Breakfast reporter’s on-air gaffe became the talk of the show when she misplaced her notebook.
Fiona Lamdin was presenting live from Birmingham, updating viewers on the ongoing dispute between Birmingham City Council and Unite union during Wednesday’s (16 April) programme.
As Fiona wrapped up her update, BBC Breakfast host Jon Kay brought up Tuesday’s faux pas.
“Fiona, thank you very much indeed,” he began. “Just before you go Fiona, I heard a rumour that a certain BBC reporter lost her notebook in a pile of rubbish yesterday and had to go rummaging through bins to find it. Have you heard this?”.
Unable to stifle her laughter at being reminded of her blunder, Fiona reappeared on camera brandishing her rescued notepad, reports Birmingham Live.
“I found it!” she proudly declared, showcasing the notebook to viewers. “My precious notebook.”
Back in the studio, presenters Jon and Sally Nugent couldn’t contain their mirth, with Sally commenting: “It looks OK! Hasn’t got any old teabags stuck to it.”
Meanwhile, Fiona has been broadcasting from Birmingham’s streets as hundreds of bin workers path the city with refuse in protest. The strike kicked off on 11 March in response to actions by Birmingham City Council, leading to an accumulation of trash bags and fly-tipped waste around the neighborhood.
Striking workers rallied on Tuesday (15 April), following the Unite union members’ rejection of the council’s latest pay proposal. More negotiations are expected to take place shortly.
West Midlands Labour mayor Richard Parker has stressed that the strikes are not due to “localised failure” unique to Birmingham, but rather a symptom of the broader collapse in local government funding.
“As bins pile up and pressures mount, the country looks on as if this is the result of some uniquely Brummie dysfunction,” Mr Parker penned in an article for BirminghamLive. “But to treat it as some kind of localised failure – the result of poor choices or civic decline – is to ignore the bigger picture.
“We’ve been caricatured as post-industrial relics, dismissed as too messy, too complex, too far gone. And now we’re being painted as forever blighted by the bins.”
BBC Breakfast airs daily on BBC One at 6am
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