Jeremy Vine: Rename BBC Drivetime show, cars have made us fat and angry

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.”