Virgin drops Penk from breakfast show

Penk took over the breakfast show in July

Virgin Radio has dumped DJ Steve Penk from its breakfast show, six months after he was brought in to replace Chris Evans.

The presenter was told of the decision to remove him from the flagship morning slot on Thursday and the DJ refused to host his final show on Friday.

He has been offered his old afternoon show on the station but has yet to make a decision on whether to stay with Virgin.

From Monday the 39-year-old will be replaced by Daryl Denham who has been hosting the drivetime show since he joined Virgin from Birmingham's Heart station.

Evans was sacked by Virgin after going on sick leave

Penk was trumpeted as the saviour of Virgin's breakfast show after Chris Evans was unceremoniously sacked after failing to turn up for work six days in a row.

< He had claimed he was ill but photographs showed he had been visiting pubs with his teenage wife Billie Piper while on sick leave.

Unhappy

Penk initially made an impact on ratings, pulling in 300,000 more listeners than Evans.

But it is thought Penk had been unhappy about sharing airtime with his co-host Harriet Scott, having run his own shows for many years.

When Penk failed to turn up for his last show Scott presented solo.

She is being moved to weekend morning shows as Denham takes centre stage alone.

Virgin Radio are playing down Penk's departure from the Breakfast slot.

A spokesman for the station said: "He's done a fantastic job on the breakfast show in difficult circumstances.

"He's a very talented presenter and we want him to come back and do the job for which he was hired."