Radio Leicester coverage

[boots60]

So the BBC give Stringer the heave-ho for something & nothing.

 

They've changed somewhat from Saville's days.

[Mike Oxlong]

1 hour ago, Gamble92 said:

I think people get annoyed he's paid so much by the BBC so effectively want to call him a BBC employee. The truth is he's the best football presenter and he could get even more elsewhere. 

Fvck me ! On first read I understood that you were talking about Stringer before I reread and came to my senses 

[davieG]

 

 

BBC Leicester reporter's free BMW and Audi leases blatantly wrong, tribunal told

 

An arrangement in which the BBC's Leicester City reporter got free leases on a BMW and an Audi were "blatantly wrong", a tribunal heard.

Ian Stringer was hired by BBC Leicester in 2008 and sacked in 2022 for what the BBC says was misconduct.

An employment tribunal in Leicester is hearing Mr Stringer's claims that he was unfairly dismissed.

Mark Moran, who made the decision to fire Mr Stringer, said the journalist should have disclosed the car leases.

The tribunal was told how Mr Stringer received the cars from the Leicester-based car firm Total Motion during a period of about three years.

The free leases came about because Mr Stringer was a close personal friend of one of the directors of the company, who has since died.

Mr Stringer maintains the cars were leased to him without contingencies or any suggestion of a quid pro quo.

 

But Mr Moran said not disclosing the leases as a personal interest "was so blatantly wrong".

"The fact somebody has, for whatever reason, been given the use of two very nice cars over a long period of time and didn't declare it or have a conversation with their manager about is just wrong."

Mr Stringer claims an investigation into his use of social media, in which he mentioned Total Motion and a number of other companies that provided him with free goods in connection with charitable work he was doing, only started after he blew the whistle about a suspected Covid rule breach.

Mr Stringer told the tribunal that in July 2021 the then station editor Kamlesh Purohit had "instructed" one of the team to come into work despite them being "pinged" by the Covid app - something the tribunal was told was "a breach of Covid rules".

Roy Magara, for Mr Stringer, said the investigation into Mr Stringer was "part and parcel of a harassment and bullying campaign against him" and had been orchestrated in response to his making a protected disclosure.

Jesse Crozier, for the BBC, has told the tribunal the two matters were deliberately dealt with separately and by people outside of BBC Leicester.

Leicester Employment Tribunal building
Image caption,
The employment tribunal heard Mr Stringer was given impartiality training in 2013 and an anti-bribery course in 2020
During the hearing Adam Smyth, the BBC's appeal hearing manager who agreed with Mr Moran's decision, was shown a tweet featuring Mr Stringer standing with boxer Tyson Fury at a Total Motion-branded event.

"This is clearly one of those events that would cause an issue because of the relationship between Ian Stringer and Total Motion," Mr Smith said.

While Mr Stringer maintains he repeatedly sought training on impartiality, Mr Smith said he was given impartiality training in 2013 and an anti-bribery course in 2020.

"Even if he was doing all of these things innocently, to have failed to take responsibility and agency and to have familiarised himself with the rules and policies... it is really not acceptable conduct."

The case continues.

 

 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-68837144

[Ecdysiast]

blue string pudding

[UniFox21]

Ah yes because in the middle of a wrongful dismissal case it's a sensible thing to start posting suggestive tweets 

[Wymsey]

1 hour ago, UniFox21 said:

Ah yes because in the middle of a wrongful dismissal case it's a sensible thing to start posting suggestive tweets 

Such an unprofessional thing to do.

Mind you, it's not the first he has done something similar tbh.

 

Edit: If it's a mental health awareness symbol, then I retract my original comment..

Edited 17 April by Wymsey

[CosbehFox]

20 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

Ah yes because in the middle of a wrongful dismissal case it's a sensible thing to start posting suggestive tweets 

I’m still blocked from when I called out some of shite 

[Tuna]

8 minutes ago, CosbehFox said:

I’m still blocked from when I called out some of shite 

He just posted this for some reason

 

;

[worth_the_wait]

9 hours ago, smudger63 said:

Well he has his own companies too doesn't he.

Doesn't change the fact, in my eyes at least, that if he does work for the BBC, and is the highest earning broadcaster on the BBC payroll, that he is  in some part an employee of the BBC, and should be held to the standards and guidelines set out by the BBC.

Guidelines  that I don't agree with by the way, I think people should be able to air their own opinions regardless of the organisation they do work for, but ultimately the BBC didn't uphold him to theirs, despite doing so with others, and just used his "I'm freelance" explanation as a cop out, and an excuse not to discipline him in the way they would for some others.

The "freelance" excuse was always a cop out.

 

i've worked for companies that used freelance/contractors.   They were bound by the same rules, in any activity that was representing the Company, either directly or indirectly.   Whether they were "permanent employees" was neither here nor there.

[Ricey]

48 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

Ah yes because in the middle of a wrongful dismissal case it's a sensible thing to start posting suggestive tweets 

It’s to do with World Semicolon Day, a mental health initiative.

[DennisNedry]

53 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

Ah yes because in the middle of a wrongful dismissal case it's a sensible thing to start posting suggestive tweets 

What could a semi colon be suggesting? Genuinely have no idea here.

[UniFox21]

40 minutes ago, Ricey said:

It’s to do with World Semicolon Day, a mental health initiative.

Just noticed he'd tweeted an explanation a bit afterwards. 

[FoxyPV]

It's a pause not an end.

 

Mental health message saying that suicide is not the option and that whatever is happening is a brief hiatus in your life rather than the end

[foxile5]

I'm torn. 

 

On the one hand I think he was a dreadful broadcaster. His commentary wasn't very good - though it wasn't terrible - and his vendetta against Pearson and attempts to influence the club were awful. Unprofessional.

 

However, it doesn't seem like his dismissal was held against the same standards as others and he certainly hasn't brought the institution into as much disrepute as other current and past employees.

 

You've got to presume that he simply wasn't liked by a member of staff and the axe was sharpened.

[foxile5]

10 hours ago, smudger63 said:

Well he has his own companies too doesn't he.

Doesn't change the fact, in my eyes at least, that if he does work for the BBC, and is the highest earning broadcaster on the BBC payroll, that he is  in some part an employee of the BBC, and should be held to the standards and guidelines set out by the BBC.

Guidelines  that I don't agree with by the way, I think people should be able to air their own opinions regardless of the organisation they do work for, but ultimately the BBC didn't uphold him to theirs, despite doing so with others, and just used his "I'm freelance" explanation as a cop out, and an excuse not to discipline him in the way they would for some others.

This is accurate. 

 

Other presenters don't have the presence to 'freelance' so are tied to standards he isn't purely through the need to have a stable job. 

 

Most BBC employees can't court scandal and walk into any other high profile job in the same way. The rules of the game don't apply the same.

[Mike Oxlong]

2 hours ago, Ricey said:

It’s to do with World Semicolon Day, a mental health initiative.

Fitting as much of his RL output came from his colon 

[Gamble92]

Anyone know when there's a verdict? Haven't been this on edge since OJ Simpson's trial.

[when_you're_smiling]

16 minutes ago, Gamble92 said:

Anyone know when there's a verdict? Haven't been this on edge since OJ Simpson's trial.

Stringer wishes there was live BBC TV footage of a chase around Coalville with the Total Motion logo prominent on his car!

[Gamble92]

14 minutes ago, when_you're_smiling said:

Stringer wishes there was live BBC TV footage of a chase around Coalville with the Total Motion logo prominent on his car!

You just know he's sat there wearing his Garmin watch as they read the evidence. 

[CheeseHead]

39 minutes ago, Gamble92 said:

Anyone know when there's a verdict? Haven't been this on edge since OJ Simpson's trial.

He's a bit of a tit, you must not acquit

[Arkie Bennett]

4 hours ago, when_you're_smiling said:

Stringer wishes there was live BBC TV footage of a chase around Coalville with the Total Motion logo prominent on his car!

 

[Paninistickers]

16 hours ago, foxile5 said:

I'm torn. 

 

On the one hand I think he was a dreadful broadcaster. His commentary wasn't very good - though it wasn't terrible - and his vendetta against Pearson and attempts to influence the club were awful. Unprofessional.

 

However, it doesn't seem like his dismissal was held against the same standards as others and he certainly hasn't brought the institution into as much disrepute as other current and past employees.

 

You've got to presume that he simply wasn't liked by a member of staff and the axe was sharpened.

From what little I know, and it isn't much,  there were multiple RL staff who didn't like him. But it has to be one who draws the dagger. 

 

The charge sheet does seem weak tho. Maybe he was sacked on trumped on charges but not for the trumped up charges?