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My Red Hair Cost Me My BBC Job

A former radio presenter claimed she was ousted from her job because her boss hated her Red Hair.

Helen Reed said she was dismissed unfairly because BBC Radio Bristol's managing editor,
Jenny Lacey, disliked the way she looked and devalued her work.

The 44 year-old told an employment tribunal in Bristol that Mrs Lacey bullied her so badly she had to take time off with stress.

She said grey-haired Mrs Lacey criticised her hair, the way she dressed and her choice of partner.
Miss Reed, from Bristol, worked for the station for seven years as a broadcast assistant on the breakfast news show and presented a three-hour request programme on Sunday evenings.

But she said she was never given the training needed to become a fully-fledged BBC reporter.
She left in March last year after the station opted not to renew her contract and barred her from its offices.
Miss Reed told of an occasion when Mrs Lacey was introducing presenters.

"I was referred to as 'known as the Redhead' in what was a very downbeat and negative tone of voice."
She claimed her contracts were not renewed because Mrs Lacey was trying to "undermine and devalue" her work.

"I seemed to be the target for bullying for reasons I simply cannot explain" she added.

Mrs Lacey, who joined the station in 1998, denied trying to squeeze her out of a job.

She also denied having been derogatory about Miss Reed's hair, claiming she only once referred to her as "our Redhead".

"This was in no way a derogatory comment and I made the comment in a very warm, friendly and affectionate manner."

She said the station's funding was "exceptionally tight" and it could no longer afford to employ Miss Reed, who could not handle "hard news".
The hearing continues.