Flailing weatherman Tomasz Schafernaker accused of hangover after failing to complete live BBC Shipping Forecast

THE BBC’s iconic Shipping Forecast was interrupted for the first time in its 91-year history after blunderprone weatherman Tomasz Schafernaker was unable to complete a reading.

Listeners to the early morning broadcast were left bemused after the forecaster struggled through a 5.20am shift on Radio 4 - with one even suggesting he was hungover.

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His voice cracked before he mumbled "excuse me" and there was an awkward on air silence before newsreader Chris Aldridge took over.

One fan tweeted: “Sounding a bit ropey. Heavy night?”

Another wrote: “Worried about Thomas who did not finish the shipping forecast this morning.”

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But Tomasz, 37, said he was “all good” when a concerned listener posted: “Oh dear! What happened to #ThomasShafenaker whilst reading the #shippingforecast? He was either coughing, sneezing, laughing or crying @bbcr4.”

The Shipping Forecast is one of the BBC’s most popular radio features, attracting hundreds of thousands of listeners every day.

It began as a broadcast by the GPO in 1911 before moving to the BBC in 1925.

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The only time it hasn’t been broadcast is during the two World Wars so the enemy were not given a heads up on local weather conditions.

On May 30, 2014, it was left out altogether due to a technical error and had to be broadcast hours later.

Shipping Forecast historian Nic Compton, who has written a book on the show’s roots, said it was the first time the broadcast had been abandoned by its reader.

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He said: “The main anomaly with the Shipping Forecast is they sometimes read out the wrong one.

“I have never heard of the reader abandoning it half way through.”
Tomasz himself was criticised after being caught reading the same Shipping Forecast two days in a row in 2010.

He was also caught giving a news reader the finger once when he thought he was off air and two years ago viewers saw him choke after swallowing water the wrong way during one particularly hair-raising broadcast.

But he has gathered legions of fans who love his awful jokes and jaunty style.

The BBC said they would not comment on why Tomasz left the broadcast.