Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE IRISH TV producer who was attacked by Jeremy Clarkson is suing the former Top Gear host and the BBC for racial discrimination and personal injury.
Oisín Tymon’s lawyers and the BBC attended the Central London Employment Tribunal today for a preliminary hearing about the action, the Guardian reports.
The veteran presenter was dropped by the broadcaster in the wake of the attack, following an internal inquiry.
The probe found that Tymon was subjected to an unprovoked physical and verbal attack by Clarkson. It happened at a Yorkshire hotel after the host was told there would be no hot food available after the day’s location shooting.
“We will be responding to this claim, but will not be commenting further at this time,” a statement from the BBC said this morning.
Speaking in May, Clarkson said the incident that lost him the lucrative presenting gig was “my own silly fault”.
Following months of speculation about his future career, it was confirmed in July that Clarkson – along with Top Gear colleagues James May and Richard Hammond – would launch their new motoring programme via Amazon’s on-demand TV service, debuting in 2016.
According to the Guardian’s report, damages in employment tribunal cases are normally capped at about £80,000 (€113,000). In discrimination cases, complainants can secure amounts of over £100,000 (over €140,000).
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Good on him. Bullying should always be punished. Bullies should be held accountable.
Yep you’re bang on.something us irish should learn from,we all quiet good at rolling over and accepting things like bullying.
Clarkson is a troll
@littleone., excellent, two perfect statements.
A top class troll who rarely fails to extract the reaction he is looking for.
If he was so outraged why didn’t he press charges? He’s after a pay out. Nothing more.
it was on the cards from the start if you are a PC up your arse org like the BBC someday will be a pay day, when you have old fart privileged dinosaurs like Clarkson strutting around.
Disgraceful. Imagine that, a worker looking to be paid for being punched and told by a very wealthy Englishman in a dominant position in his place of employment that he was yet another thick lazy Paddy.
How dare he want to sue the Sasanach for all he can. Jesus wept.
He deserves a payout
Best of luck to him hope he gets a shed load of money!
Good man Oisín, hit ‘em where it hurts. I’m all for a good bit of controversy and Clarkson is good at that, but he’s got too big for his boots.
I doubt he really cares one look at his paycheck from Amazon will make him a happy man.
Is it not the BBC who will pay out? Or therefore the licence fee payer? I totally agree with taking this matter to court to try to change the anti-Irish bias at the BBC (really just anti everyone except the rich these days), but unfortunately I don’t think they’ll care too much when it’s OPM (other people’s money). Send some top executives to jail, that might change some tunes.
If he wanted to hit him where it hurts he would have sued Clarkson personally. Instead he’s taking a different route.
It was obviously an anti-Irish racist rant and assault. I always wondered why nobody in RTE or the BBC picked up on that obvious fact.
Why did he have to bring race into his case? Everyone knows anyway that Clarkson can be a jackass.
Because he said something racist while attacking the man. You know a racist attack
Irish are no different racially to English. It was a xenophobic attack.
Sertorius is right. Irish isn’t a race. Biologically, we’re very similar to other ethnic groups that inhabit the British Islands.
I never looked upon Clarkson as a different race…I always regarded him as white Caucasian….just goes to show….you NEVER can tell……
People being incorrectly pedantic about Irish being a race when they should look up the word ‘racism’
And the Irish islands….
The irish are not a race. This was one white man hitting another.
Yes biologically we are very similar, aside from the spare liver.
“British Islands” Are you that Clarkson guy? “biologically” an African “is no different racially to English” either unless your definition of “race” takes a single aspect of “biology”, skin colour, and puts it above all the other variables most of which are far more important (e.g. genomes to resist illnesses) – which no doubt is what you’re doing. Ironic that you’re using an 18th-century socially-created definition of “race” and seeking to apply a pseudo-scientific rationale to justify it. What’s your point?
PS: As for “we’re all the one race here on our glorious British islands”, do tell us about that “Famine” in Kent or Sussex in England in the 19th century which wiped out millions of people amid widespread portrayals of the English in newspapers and the like as subhuman apes. Oh, wait.
Because “race” is only defined by skin colour, right? How scientific. What happened the “human race”?
Sean, we are not a different race to the english, no matter what you say. He should still sue for bullying and Xenophobia though.
Obvious question: How do you define “race”?
And, how would you describe these – http://tinyurl.com/pem4969 – English/British portrayals of the Irish if not “racist”?
My darling Frank, the Irish are poles apart in character from the English. That is why most English people love us. It is the ratbags who don’t like us.
Good for him. Irish always turn other cheek. About time that stopped.
He wanted to put it behind him a few months ago. Then Clarkson signs a multi million pound deal. I smell a rat.
Nothing to do with it. Clarkson had rake load of money before. He is dead right to take it further. Might make others think twice about the smarmy comments about Irish people in future.
He got punched at work. Damn right he should sue.
Slater & Gordon are in my opinion the pond life of the legal world, real ambulance chasers who were previously Claims Direct.
Greed. Probably egged-on by a greedy lawyer…but greed, just the same.
Clarkson. An oafish ignoramus if ever there was one. How people can lament his departure from top gear is beyond me. Racist and sexist…double whammy. He is the Daily Mail incarnate. I advise top gear fans to have a look at this…https://youtu.be/tWsoIwhaL5E certainly more aimed at Hammond but it’s brilliant.
One of my favourite stand-up routines ever… “Hahaha gypsies!”
Stewart Lee on The Journal will always get a thumbs up from me!!
Gene. LMAO
Hmmm, not sure about this. Tymon got a lot of kudos for his stoic and dignified response to the whole episode. Sudden change of heart!?
Ones prospects for a career in tv production will be more limited following a high profile case against a former employer.
So what, he just just remain silent after having been bullied?
Tymon was not bullied – he was assaulted and there is a huge difference between the two.although I am not diminishing the psychological or emotional consequences from the victims perspective.
Regardless, Clarkson’s behaviour was disgraceful, however, I agree with David McShite in that Tymon’s career prospects will be seriously limited.
Doesn’t make it right, though!
Personally I would consider being assaulted and verbally abused as a form of bullying
@ Del Bear – Bullying concerns repeated incidences towards an individual – a one off incident does not constitute bullying.
Assault and verbal abuse are separate issue: assault is simply assault whether it occurs once, twice or three times. Repeated verbal abuse could be construed as bullying but a one off incident would constitute gross misconduct from an employers perspective.
Depending on its severity, bullying will not always result in dismissal whereas assault will.
My apologies for the lecture and for labouring the issue only I felt clarity was required.
£80,000?
Jeremy probably spends that in a weekend partying.
Actually, he probably has that in his back pocket.
‘There you go Mick – now fcuk off’
Wouldn’t say you could fit anything in the back pocket of those tight, Dad, jeans he always wears!!
Clarkson could buy the exposure he is getting because if it.
Can you inag
Can you imagine the viewership figures for the new programme after all this…
Seriously the amount of abuse Oisin Tymon is getting on Twitter is ridiculous and so much anti-irish sentiment too! He’s well within his rights to sue, you can’t just go round assaulting someone because you didn’t get any dinner! Clarkson should have been charged with assault as well! Take them to the cleaners Oisin!
To hell with any potential settlement. If he was racially abused he should have kicked the sh*t out of Clarkson and taught him a good lesson. Definitely would have given him more personal satisfaction in my opinion
I disagree! Nothing could be more satisfying than 250,000 euro!!
€250,001 perhaps!
It amazes me that people still like this guy . Most of my friends in London who are black /muslim/sheik i have spoken about Clarkson and his racist incidents in the pass give him a pass and think its funny .All because he has a very popular show . Oisin sue the pants off him and especially the BBC . BBC has to be held responsible for hiring this goof .
Jeremy Clarkson aka Roger Melly!
No Rodger Melly was fun and entertaining .
So now Irish is a race? The Race Craze has gone beyond all sanity and reason. The word “race” has lost all meaning and with that the word “racist”. Well done race mongers. Soon every person belongs to his own race.
Exactly. There are no unique Irish genetics anymore.
This old chestnut of what is a race or not. It requires you to have failed to understand racism is a word applied beyond race and includes ethnic groups. Irish people are certainly an ethnic group and both the law and the word apply.
It is your ignorance of the word that is the issue not if Irish people are a race.
Race is a social construct, similar to gender (I said gender, not sex). There can be some ties to physical differences but not always and that doesn’t always form the basis of the prejudice. http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/05/what-we-mean-when-we-say-race-is-a-social-construct/275872/
For me the meaning of “racist” would imply a difference in genetics that is visually obvious. Are Irish people so different to English people in terms of physical appearance? I don’t think so.
In this context I think “xenophobic” or “sectarian” may be more apt.
‘Race’ is whatever you want it to be if you wish to be offended.
It’s would be hypocritical of me to accept that definition of what race is. I would then have to accept that Travellers are a separate race, which I don’t. I think you misunderstand the word and it’s origins.
@stephen
Don’t worry what is or is not a race and try to understand the word racism and equality laws. Being a Pavee and being discriminated against for that breaches equality law. Being called a name for being from another country is against equality laws in the UK too. It isn’t complicated
The Irish are an ethnicity, distinct from the Germanic ethnic grouping which includes the Anglo-Saxons. But we are the same race, which is a broader construct.
Spot on, Larry.
@Vincent. Physical appearance is made up of phenotypical differences which are different from genotypical differences. Our genes are 50% similar to those of a banana and most of us do not look 50% to a banana.
For a good discussion I recommend this
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O88-racesociologyof.html
Let’s hope he takes that ignorant overbearing boor Clarkson, to the cleaners!
Clarkson has shown his true self, a racist and a bully in the workplace!
What a pathetic little wimp.
So what would you have done in his position?
Probably punched him back, gotten in a bit of a scuffle, shook hands and that would be the end of it.
and as a producer, you’d be absolutely certain never to work again if you punched the talent!
At least he’s doing the legal and professional thing here!!
…or the greedy thing.
I’d say the reason he is suing is because he won’t work again. Clarkson is a powerful man in the media. Tymon ended the careers of many people (for a time at least) on the most popular television show in the world all over a little slap. Had he manned up about it, he would possibly be in a better position now.
Not greedy, I hope he sues the arse off them, its bot right to be assaulted at work especially by a complete arsehole like Clarkson, hit them where it hurts, in their pocket!
A high award of compensation will operate as a deterrent to other thugs attacking fellow employees. Clarkson’s pocket is his only sensitive spot.
If it was an anti Irish rant personally I would not be offended – because that would give legitimacy to the rant. I would just laugh at it and sneer back at Jeremy Clarkson. Lots of things to sneer at there. You could have a field day really.
Can we use the words ethnic slur, rather than racist assault? They are two different things, one more serious than the other – one can be meant in a jocular manner, eg those sleazy Italian men hahaha….do i go for jail now for saying that?
I can understand he would sue Clarkson but why the BBC? They took the correct action by firing Clarkson because they did not condone his actions. They had no part or knowledge of Clarkson’s assault until it was reported.
BBC was the employer. It is vicariously liable for the acts of its employees providing it was aware of Clarkson’s propensities. I doubt that will prove too difficult a challenge.
Oisin Tynon had to endure many death threats from Clarkson supporters following the revelations.
Silly comment Fiona. The BBC had nothing to do with death threats made to Tynon.
I would have thought he would be better suing for the assault
Oisín, you’re a sphincter, how can you claim racism? I have no time for Clarkson, but I have less time for people playing the idiotic race card to get a wodge. You are the same race as Clarkson, I hope you lose and get cost awarded against you.
Fortunately English Equality law does not reflect your opinion. The claim is a sure winner as long as it is filed within the statutory period.
Do you regard that as fortunate? How do you see this as a racial matter?
Don’t know what was said to him but say he was called a Irish c.unt witch word offended him the Irish or the c.nt
It’s funny, I’d have assumed that someone named Oisín was ethnic Irish and Caucasian. Is he black or Asian, or what?
He is not English. He is English resident. He was victimised because of his nationality. He has a valid claim.
Racist? Cop on?
Jeremy Clarkson always has had an antipathy towards the Irish but in fairness he is also prejudiced against many others. He is a “Middle Englander” of whom there are relatively few, most English people being reasonably well disposed to the Irish.
No one should have to accept ongoing verbal abuse culminating in a physical assault. Bullies have to be stood up to and made accountable.
If the BBC has any smarts it will buy off the claim and then seek reimbursement from Clakson’s. After this Clarkson’s hatred for the Irish will know no bounds.
I saw his conduct in the Canal du Midi and he deserved to be challenged on his boorish behaviour.
Never liked that show all came across as middle aged snobs. Clarkson with his big thick racist head in him.
Great but are they not the same race? ?
Rare for an Irish person to sue anybody. He should go work on a building site.
The Irish would follow under a ethnic group not a race, in that there is no different physical characteristics from a white British man or white Irish man.
First gear to Oisin
Which sorry
have your say