Zara Hoddle wrote to BBC Ceefax to ask people to leave him alone to get on with his job and forget the row over his comments on disabled people.

"I am Zara Hoddle and I would just like to say that I am very supportive of disabled people, so is my dad, but this is the most pathetic reason for someone to have maybe lost their job and to have so much hassle over.

"If you would just take the time to listen to what his explanation is then maybe you would understand this a bit more."

Zara added: "So please consider this from my dad's point of view and hopefully everything will be back to normal soon."