Former Heart presenter Kev Lawrence has parted company with BBC Radio Cambridgeshire a year almost to the day after picking up the reported £55,000 a year ‘gig’ to host the breakfast show.

He left the station yesterday (Tue) but it was only announced officially at a staff meeting today (Wednesday) on what would have been Kev’s first year anniversary.

It is the second major radio programme job he has lost in a short space of time after Heart FM ended much of their local programming in May 2019.

A BBC spokesperson told RadioToday: “During the coronavirus pandemic the station is broadcasting a streamlined schedule and we are currently unable to renew Kev’s contract at this time. Dotty McLeod will return as the main host of weekday Breakfast, 6-10am.”

His former boss at BBC Cambridgeshire, station editor David Harvey, told RadioToday of the “tremendous contribution” Kev had made to their output.

“We will be keeping in touch and I hope we can work together again in the future,” he said.

For Kev, who has worked in local radio for over 20 years, it will be a matter of where to go to from here. Such was the swiftness of his departure that today’s breakfast show still carried trailers advertising that show he has recently co-presented with Dotty McLeod.

A BBC employee for six years, she will go back to hosting the show on her own, something she did before Kev was signed up.

Ironically not long after joining the BBC, Kev led the station’s coverage of a challenge to find the next generation of new voices for radio.

In May the BBC issued a brief statement in response to allegations that Kev may have breached coronavirus lockdown guidelines.

A BBC spokesperson said: “We don’t comment on individuals but take the safety of all our staff seriously and expect them to follow the latest guidelines.”

The statement followed a request to the BBC press office after the Cambs Times received details of a complaint by a Radio Cambridgeshire listener.

A woman claimed that Kev has failed to observe strict guidelines that covered individual movements during the coronavirus pandemic.

The author of the email provided the BBC with details of the allegations and said they had only provided the information to the Cambs Times after failing to get “a swift response”.