Alan Brazil breaks Ofcom rules by saying Asian immigrants caused rat infestation

TALKSPORT presenter Alan Brazil has breached Ofcom's broadcasting rules by blaming Asian immigrants for Glasgow's rat infestation, the watchdog said.

Brazil, a former footballer, made the comments on his Sports Breakfast programme in December during a conversation with fellow host Mike Graham.

He said "thing have changed" in Glasgow as there are a lot of people from Asia.

“I don’t know if I should say this. I was talking to someone the other day and he came down from a part of Glasgow, in fact where my school was," he said. “And things have changed. Parts of cities have changed. Because different people move in. And there’s a lot of people there let’s say from Asia – you know from that part of the world.

“But they don’t, with rice and stuff, they don’t, they don’t store it properly. And he was saying, he’s social housing this guy, and he said you can’t believe the rat infestation we’ve got there.

“What do you mean – how? And he was telling me people just a little bit ignorant when they come in, it’s a little bit damp and stuff like that, and where they store the food and stuff, he said it’s horrendous at the moment.”

The broadcasting watchdog has said that the 59-year-old's comments "fell short of accepted standards" and had the potential to cause "harm and offence."

However, TalkSport told Ofcom that there was no intent to cause any offence.