Presenter Jeremy Vine has said BBC Radio 2’s Drivetime show should be renamed as it celebrates “a form of transport that kills 1,700 people a year” and has made us “fat and angry”.
Vine, a keen cyclist, said new host Sara Cox would be “BRILLIANT” on the show but that it needed a different name to reflect a “post-car Britain”.
He said: “I’d like to ask the BBC to stop calling it ‘Drivetime’. Our addiction to the motor vehicle has made our cities traffic sewers; made us asthmatic, fat and angry; and made our planet suffer.
“We shouldn’t be celebrating a form of transport that kills 1,700 people a year.
“The programme needs a different name for post-car Britain.”
Cox was named as the new presenter of Drivetime after Simon Mayo, who was co-presenting with Jo Whiley, quit the show. Wiley will not present her own show from 7-9pm.
Vine, 53, is a passionate cyclist and uses an electric bike to travel from his Channel 5 morning show to his midday Radio 2 programme.
In August 2016, Vine was the victim of a road rage attack while cycling down a west London street. Driver Shanique Pearson, who was filmed verbally abusing the BBC broadcaster, was jailed for nine months.
Colleague Dan Walker replied to Vine’s tweet saying: “Appreciate that Lord Vine but when did ‘post-car Britain’ start exactly?”
One critic replied to Vine, tweeting: “Folk have to drive and will do so for many years to come.”
Another said: “For many the car is a necessity. Working locally is not always possible and a lot of areas don’t have the transport links of London.”
