Vine: Jogger who pushed woman must be a banker

JEREMY Vine has been criticised for suggesting that a jogger who pushed a woman in front of a bus must have been a banker.

Footage emerged this week of a bus swerving as the woman fell into the road.

However the BBC presenter was yesterday accused of trivialising the attack, after he set up an online poll to guess the profession of the jogger.

He only gave three options for the unidentified man’s job, all of which were in finance. It prompted accusations that he was being ‘prejudicial’ and fuelling stereotypes.

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen described Vine’s tweet as a ‘huge lack of judgment’, adding that he should not have used the attack in West London to start a ‘class war’.

Vine, who is on holiday from his Radio 2 lunchtime show, also faced criticism from some of his 638,000 Twitter followers. They said the poll was ‘bad taste’, ‘very insulting’ and an unsuitably ‘frivolous’ way to approach such a serious subject.

The presenter was recently revealed to be one of the highest earners at the BBC, taking home up to £750,000 last year, and many of his followers suggested that his attack on those on high salaries was ill-timed.

The 52-year-old deleted the tweet after it had been online for four hours.

Police have launched an appeal to trace the attacker, who was caught on CCTV pushing the woman off the pavement as she walked to work across Putney Bridge in May. The 33-year-old only narrowly avoided being hit by the bus.

Last night, police said the appeal had prompted a ‘huge response’, and they are now following a number of leads.

‘Lack of judgment’