BBC radio host sacked for on-air turban remarks

LONDON: A BBC radio presenter has been sacked for making alleged racist remarks after she told a taxi firm not to send a driver wearing a turban to pick up her daughter as it would “freak her out”.

40-year-old Sam Mason who joined BBC Radio Bristol in September this year called the taxi company off-air when she was presenting the radio’s afternoon programme.
She allegedly told the cab operator “not to send an Asian driver to pick up her daughter. A guy with a turban on is going to freak her out.”

“I know this sounds really racist, but I’m not being please. An English person would be great, a female would be better,” she further added. When her request was refused, she is alleged to have said: “You’ve managed it before.”

Mason was suspended and sacked 24 hours later after the operator passed a transcript of the conversation to The Sun newspaper. She was later informed by station officials on Saturday that she would no longer work for the BBC.

The transcript records how she ordered a taxi to take her 14-year-old from her Clifton house to her grandparents’ home.

A BBC spokesman said: “Although Sam Mason’s remarks were not made on-air, her comments were completely unacceptable and, for that reason, she has been informed that she will no longer be working for the BBC with immediate effect.”