ITV have escaped censure for their World Cup gaffe which broadcast adverts over the top of Steven Gerrard's opening goal for England against the USA, reports the Daily Mail. More than 1.5million viewers of the channel's HD service had their coverage interrupted by an advert seconds before the Three Lions' captain poked his team in front during the opening match of a doomed campaign.

Despite receiving 823 complaints Ofcom have avoided sanctioning the broadcaster and instead accepted that the incident was an 'unfortunate error'.

ITV said it 'deeply regretted' the incident and had 'apologised publicly' to its HD viewers.