Now producer hit in the face by Clarkson sues him over racism
He wants £100,000 after ‘lazy Irish’ insults
THE Irish producer who was punched in the face by Jeremy Clarkson is suing the former Top Gear presenter and the BBC for racial discrimination.
Oisin Tymon, who worked on the motoring show for nearly a decade, is now seeking around £100,000 in damages and could force Mr Clarkson to give evidence in front of a court tribunal.
Mr Clarkson allegedly called Mr Tymon a ‘lazy Irish ****’ during their infamous ‘fracas’ in March, and attacked him so badly he left the 36-year old bleeding and in need of emergency medical care.
The presenter was angry that he could not order a steak because the kitchen at his hotel had closed. Oisin Tymon, who still works for the BBC, decided not to press criminal charges for the alleged assault, but he will accuse Mr Clarkson of personal injury at the employment tribunal.
However any comments about his Irish origins are likely to pose the biggest legal issue, sources claimed. Damages in employment tribunals are usually capped at around £80,000, but can be considerably higher in cases where there is evidence of discrimination, or if the victim is a whistle-blower.
A closed-door hearing took place yesterday, and a full, public tribunal will take place early next year, unless the BBC and Mr Clarkson settle the case with Mr Tymon out of court. The producer’s legal representatives, Slater and Gordon, declined to comment, as did Mr Clarkson’s lawyers at Olswang. The BBC said: ‘We will be responding to this claim but will not be commenting further at this time.’
According to the BBC’s investigation into the so-called ‘fracas’, the presenter verbally abused Mr Tymon for 20 minutes, before physically attacking him for 30 seconds. ‘During the physical attack Oisin Tymon was struck, resulting in swelling and bleeding to his lip,’ said Ken MacQuarrie, the BBC boss who oversaw the inquiry. ‘The verbal abuse was sustained over a longer period, at the time of the physical attack and subsequently.’
The BBC suspended Mr Clarkson after the incident, and eventually decided not to renew his contract – ending a BBC career which spanned 25 years. Top Gear’s exec- utive producer Andy Wilman, and his co-hosts James May and Richard Hammond all followed him out of the door, and are now filming a far more lucrative motoring series with Amazon. The three-year deal is said to be worth £164million.
It is not clear how much of that figure Mr Clarkson will pocket, but it is likely to be far higher than the £1million-a-year he reportedly received at the BBC. It is less clear how Mr Tymon is faring. At the time of the row, his lawyer said he wanted to ‘return to the job he loves’ on Top Gear. But it is understood that he has now moved to a different show at the broadcaster.
Yesterday he faced an angry backlash from licence fee payers. ‘Oisin Tymon now wants money. Not an apology (which he got). Nor justice (which he got). But money. Who’d have thought?’ one viewer wrote on Twitter. Another said: ‘Oisin Tymon suing for £100,000 for a cut lip? Talk about milking the cow.’
His case against Mr Clarkson is just one of a number of legal rows the presenter is facing. In October, he learned that he could be jailed for up to three years, after a judge reopened the investigation into a road trip in Argentina when he travelled in a car with the registration H982 FKL – thought to be a reference to the 1982 Falklands war. The Top Gear team has always insisted that it was an innocent coincidence.
‘Swelling and bleeding to lip’