The Apprentice star Ian Stringer who was hired by BBC as Leicester City sports ... trends now
A BBC sports reporter has claimed he was unfairly dismissed by the corporation after blowing the whistle over an alleged flouting of Covid rules.
Ian Stringer appeared on hit BBC show The Apprentice before he was hired by BBC Leicester in 2008 to cover Leicester City matches.
An employment tribunal was told Mr Stringer was suspended in 2021 and sacked the following year for what the BBC says was misconduct.
The tribunal heard he had promoted a vehicle fleet management company on Twitter after being given free use of a BMW and an Audi.
An employment judge heard Mr Stringer had, during the BBC disciplinary process, compared his actions with those of colleagues at the corporation such as Gary Lineker, Andrew Flintoff and Victoria Derbyshire, who, he said, had relationships with commercial entities outside the BBC.
In evidence, Mr Stringer accused the BBC of having a 'changeable' policy on social media use and claimed some senior managers had used swear words in their social media posts
Mr Stringer told the court how, 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'.
Mr Stringer said: 'I felt bullied because I made a protected disclosure.'
He described his relationship with the station editor as 'difficult and challenging', adding: 'Post disclosure, it got considerably worse and toxic - it was bullying.'
He said an investigation into his social media use began at a similar time as he made the disclosure to Mr Purohit.
He said there was 'every chance' the two were related. 'It is odd timing', he said.
'My social media had not been a problem for so many years and then (the issue of his social media use) just happens a few days after my disclosure.'
The Leicester tribunal had previously heard how Mr Stringer received 'high-end cars at zero cost' via a company called Total Motion, which Mr Stringer 'promoted' to his Twitter following, which stood at between 50,000 and 60,000 followers at the time.
In 2021, Mr Stringer contacted Garmin about a charitable run he was planning, and mentioned his social media following. He was sent two
