Father’s advice costs Sir Tom Hunter £1million... for charity

FOLLOWING your father’s advice is normally a sound move. But yesterday it ended up costing tycoon Sir Tom Hunter a remarkable £1 million.

Scotland’s first home-grown billionaire dug deep into his own pocket by pledging the seven-figure donation to radio presenter Chris Evans’s Children in Need campaign.

Appearing on Evans’s BBC Radio 2 breakfast show, the entrepreneur offered to not only match all the donations raised from a special auction for the charity but would round the figure up to £1million.

He then told the millions of listeners that his late father had once told him: ‘The definition of real kindness is to help someone you’ll never meet.’

Among the auction packages up for grabs were a luxury break in Monaco, a golf trip and the chance to drive a Ferrari sports car. The retail entrepreneur said it was a privilege to donate to Children in Need but admitted his radio appearance left him feeling ‘a little bit awkward’.

Yesterday Ewan Hunter, spokesman for the Hunter Foundation, confirmed the organisation has an existing partnership with the Children in Need cause.

The initiative, called Positive Destinations, aims to prevent young people from becoming disengaged f rom education, employment or training programmes.

Mr Hunter said: ‘This will renew that partnership but we still have to agree where the funds will be applied this time.’