Listen to the call here

A BBC radio presenter was fired after making "completely unacceptable" comments about Asian taxi drivers, the broadcaster said today.

Sam Mason, 40, asked a Bristol cab firm not to send an Asian driver to pick up her daughter because "a guy with a turban on is going to freak her out."

The phone operator recorded the conversation and passed a copy of it to The Sun.

Mother-of-one Mason, an ex-TV glamour girl, called the cab firm off-air as she played a song on her BBC Radio Bristol afternoon show, the paper claimed.

Here is a transcript of the conversation, which can be listened to on The Sun website:

Mason: "I know this sounds really racist, but I'm not being - please, don't send anyone like, you know what I mean. An English person would be great, a female would be better."

Operator: "We would class that as being racist. We can't penalise the Asian drivers and just send an English one."

Mason: "You've managed it before."

Operator: "Right, OK. I don't agree with it personally."

Mason: "It's not your 14-year-old girl who's, you know, is it?" Operator: "Yes, but that's racist to say you don't want an Asian driver."

Mason: "If it were me I wouldn't care if it had two heads, but it's my little girl we are talking about."

After asking the woman on the phone to pass the call on to a supervisor, she finally adds: "I work at the BBC. I'm far from racist and that uneducated woman has no right to call me one.

"I don't want her to turn up with a guy with a turban on, it's going to freak her out. She's not used to Asians.

"She's not racist - her godparents are black."

Today, the BBC confirmed it had fired Mason, but would not say which taxi firm made the complaint.

A spokesman said: "Although Sam Mason's remarks were not made on-air, her comments were completely unacceptable and, for that reason, she has been informed that she will no longer be working for the BBC with immediate effect."

Mason has previously battled with alcoholism, which led to prosecution before Bristol magistrates for speeding.

She was caught travelling at 65mph in a 50mph limit zone while on her way to Weston-super-Mare's Broadway Lodge alcoholism treatment centre in 2003.

She received a second six-month ban in October that year for driving while disqualified.

She also received a community rehabilitation order after pleading guilty to driving while disqualified, having no insurance and exceeding the speed limit on the A370.

After working with a counsellor in alcohol rehab, the presenter was invited back to BBC Radio Bristol to fill a prime afternoon slot on September 29.

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