Weight-loss jabs such as Mounjaro have led to a rise in people needing extra holes in their belts to make them smaller, the chief executive of Timpson has said.

Lord James Timpson said  the number needing their belts tightening had risen by almost 700 per cent, with slimmer customers the most likely explanation.

He wrote on X: 'You can tell Ozempic and Mounjaro are popular… in our Timpson shops we have seen a 680 per cent increase in the number of free holes in customers belts we've been doing this year.

'We can only assume that this is due to the recent uptake in weight-loss injections.' 

Some estimates suggest around 2.4 million people in the UK are prescribed weight-loss medications.

The vast majority of people taking the drugs Mounjaro or semaglutide - also known as Wegovy for weight loss or Ozempic for diabetes - pay privately owing to restrictions on who can access the medicines via the NHS.

In June, the medicines regulator approved Wegovy in tablet form.

Olivier Picard, chairman of the National Pharmacy Association, said: 'It is encouraging to see more and more people needing extra notches in their belts after starting weight management treatments.

 'Obesity is one of the biggest health challenges facing society and weight loss treatment can have a transformative effect on health outcomes for those who are eligible.

'There must now be a redoubling of efforts within Government and the NHS to use pharmacies to make sure more eligible patients in clinical need can get this for free from the NHS, rather than the current postcode lottery that exists for weight management services via GPs.

'We are concerned that the NHS rollout remains extremely slow and community pharmacy is ready to support a wider rollout, which will help eligible patients access treatment safely and help mitigate the impact of obesity on the NHS.'

Lord Timpson later told the Daily Mail: 'At Timpson, we encourage our colleagues to do free jobs for our customers.

'We believe that random acts of kindness help to make the world a better place.

'Many of our customers who receive these free jobs then choose to make a donation to our company charity, the Alex Timpson Trust, which provides free holidays for looked after children.

'Over the last 12 months we've noticed a 680 per cent increase in the number of customers requiring additional holes to be punched in their belts.

'To put it simply, many of our customers are getting slimmer and as a result, donations to our charity have also increased.'