London, Nov. 12: The BBC has dismissed a woman radio presenter in Bristol for ringing up a local minicab firm and stipulating that she did not want a driver in a turban to pick up her 14-year-old daughter.

The story came out after an operator at the minicab firm recorded the call and sent it to the Sun newspaper.

Explaining its tough stance against racism, the BBC has issued a statement explaining why Sam Mason, 40, a presenter on BBC Radio Bristol could no longer work for the corporation.

A BBC 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.”

In a further twist, the Evening Post newspaper in Bristol has revealed that “an operator at the taxi firm, Streamline Black and White, was sacked for illegally recording the conversation”.

A fellow presenter, Susan Osman, said her colleague, whom she had known for almost 20 years, was not a racist: “Sam Mason and I go back a long way. I have never known her to be a racist. She has overcome considerable challenges in her life and this is most unfortunate.”

According to the paper, “Mason has previously battled with alcoholism, which led to prosecution before Bristol magistrates for speeding”.

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

Mason once told the paper she turned to drink as a “crutch” to help her cope with life.

A tearful Mason, too, has now spoken to the Post, admitted she is “devastated” at losing her job and emphatically denies she is a racist. "My only concern was for my daughter. I adore my job and I am absolutely devastated that I have lost it. Please believe me, I am not a racist.”

News of Mason’s dismissal follows the 12-week suspension handed down to Jonathan Ross, one of the BBC’s most high profile and highly paid television presenters, after a lewd phone call made on a BBC radio programme to Andrew Sachs, an actor.

Russell Brand, the presenter of the radio programme, had called Sachs on air and left a message on his answering machine, saying he had slept with his 23-year-old granddaughter, Georgina Baillie, and suggesting this could provoke Sachs to become suicidal. (Georgina later confirmed she had indeed slept with Brand but also expressed outrage at Brand’s call).

While Brand stepped down and announced he would not work for the corporation again, the BBC resisted calls for Ross to be sacked – he is far too popular a presenter – and instead chose the relatively milder punishment of a 12-week suspension. He will lose a million pounds in pay but will make that up without any trouble.

In comparison, Mason has not been so lucky.

The following is a transcript of Mason’s conversation with the taxi company, printed in the Sun.

A transcript records how she ordered a taxi to take her 14-year-old daughter to her grandparents’ home. She asks the operator not to send a man in a turban, presumably a Sikh.

Mason then says: “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.”

Mason is then handed to a male operator and tells him that his female colleague has “a bad attitude”.

She adds: “I work at the BBC. I’m far from racist and that uneducated woman has no right to call me one.”

She says of her daughter: “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.”