Good Morning Britain star Ranvir Singh shared heartbreaking news during Thursday’s show
A Good Morning Britain star made a tragic death announcement on Thursday (January 22), as tributes poured in. The popular ITV show was presented by Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid, who kept viewers updated with the latest happenings both nationally and globally.
Joining them in the studio were Laura Tobin, providing regular weather updates, and Ranvir Singh, who covered the day’s other news stories.
During the programme, Ranvir reported the sad news of an 87-year-old woman who had tragically died in hospital after falling into a pothole while crossing the road. The family of Beryl Barrett has described her death as “unnecessary”.
Ranvir shared: “The family of an 87-year-old woman, who died after falling in a pothole, says she lost her life unnecessarily. Beryl Barrett was crossing the road in Nottinghamshire when she clipped the wheel of her walking aid and fell. She died six days later on Christmas Day,” reports Wales Online.
She continued: “Beryl’s MP raised her death with the Prime Minister, saying it was time to take action. The government says it’s investing £2 billion in the East Midlands to fix roads.”
Beryl’s family had previously released a statement saying: “We, the Barrett family, would like to address the event that we believe caused the death of our mother on 25 December. She was 87 years old, living independently in Warsop. She had a very active life. She regularly attended church, bingo and met family and friends for events.”
The statement revealed that Beryl fell backwards onto the road and received assistance from “many kind members of the public” and emergency services. The family said they were informed Beryl had fractured her femur and the top of her previous hip replacement. She was transported to King’s Mill Hospital.
They added: “It was recommended that she have surgery the following week. Sadly and absolutely unnecessarily, she went into respiratory failure and passed away on Christmas Day.
“We believe that, if that accident hadn’t occurred [despite her underlying health issues], she would not have passed away in this way.”
Beryl’s MP, Steve Yemm, demanded improvements to the county’s roads on Wednesday (January 21). Upon hearing of Beryl’s heartbreaking death, the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, extended his “deepest sympathies” to her family.
He said: “I will make sure the roads minister meets the family at the earliest opportunity. It shows why tackling potholes really matters. We are investing £2 billion in the East Midlands to fix the roads and improve local transport. We are also putting in place tough new standards so that councils must prove they are fixing roads properly.”
Bert Bingham, a cabinet member on Nottinghamshire County Council, expressed his condolences: “We are deeply saddened to hear about the passing of a resident in Warsop in December, and our thoughts are with their family and friends. Any reports of incidents on our highway resulting in injury are taken extremely seriously and are investigated to establish the circumstances in which they occurred. In this case, we do not feel that it is appropriate to comment further until any relevant investigations have taken place.”
Elsewhere, Richard and Susanna brought viewers breaking news on today’s GMB, reporting that multiple individuals remain unaccounted for following a devastating landslide at a campsite in the popular New Zealand destination of Mount Maunganui.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays on ITV1 and ITVX at 6am