Loose Women's Kaye Adams to sue BBC after axe from her radio show amid bullying claims

Presenter Kaye Adams is set to sue the BBC after being sacked by Radio Scotland over allegations of bullying.

The Mail on Sunday can reveal that the Loose Women star has hired a lawyer to work on her case against the corporation following her exit in February after 15 years on the airwaves.

Her dismissal from her £155,000 a year role on her weekday morning show was said to have left her both devastated and furious. 

Sources say claims she threw a pen at a producer were ‘way off the mark’ – as there is a screen in the studio between where she and the staff member were positioned.

Another accusation levelled at Ms Adams, that she used the ‘C-word’ against a member of staff, dated from an incident that took place 14 years ago. 

And she firmly denies the third accusation against her – that she scolded an intern over their professional ability.

Friends of the star have also been left ‘bewildered’ that Newsnight host Victoria Derbyshire kept her job despite three claims of bullying against her. 

While the accusations weren’t upheld following an investigation, Ms Derbyshire was warned about her behaviour.

An insider told the MoS: ‘Kaye was freelance, Victoria is staff. That seems very unfair. It’s like there is one rule for one, another rule for another. It isn’t right.

‘Kaye has a got herself a lawyer who is looking at everything and she is poised to take the legal action. She is looking at the options.

‘It was a difficult work environment. It was dysfunctional. Producers were out of their depth and the bosses brought in many inexperienced people, with little training, and threw them in at the deep end. 

'The BBC like to describe their presenters as powerful but many felt the opposite. Presenters weren’t getting the support they needed, leaving them feeling out of control on the airwaves. The BBC doesn’t want to be accountable for the poor work environment it created.’

Sources also say that those close to Ms Adams, 63, believe she was a victim of a ‘witch hunt’ against her by new BBC Scotland radio boss Victoria Easton Riley, who was appointed last May.

Within six months, Ms Easton Riley had scrapped the station’s longest-running programme, Good Morning Scotland, and replaced it with Radio Scotland Breakfast, presented by Martin Geissler and Laura Maciver. 

There has also been a major shake-up to the daily and late-evening presenting line-up.

Insiders previously said the move against Ms Adams came after a team meeting was observed by the new boss, who witnessed behaviour she found concerning, prompting her to speak to colleagues about the star.

In a statement posted on Instagram to her 188,000 followers, Ms Adams profusely denied the allegations made against her.

‘I’ve tried to keep a dignified silence, but these attacks on my character are now so persistent, they can no longer go unchallenged,’ she wrote. 

‘I categorically deny using a misogynistic slur 14 years ago, and I’m horrified at its invention more than a decade later. It is absolutely not a word I would have used.

‘As for “berating an intern”, this is simply untrue. Regarding the allegation that I threw a pencil while alone in an empty studio, words fail me. 

'I am heartbroken that 15 years of hard work and dedication to BBC Scotland is being reduced to this.’

ITV has stood by Ms Adams in the aftermath of the row with the BBC.

Ms Adams’ representatives have been contacted for comment.