Complaint response 28/01/11

Email received from BBC 03/02/11:

Thank you for your comments about the Jeremy Vine Show broadcast on 28 January.

The last thing we intended to do was provide information that might be useful to criminals. However, to cover the story of heating oil theft properly, we needed to discuss the topic in some detail. Part of our thinking was that by highlighting the issue we were able to actually help reduce crime, and listeners should be made aware of what to do in order to secure their supplies.

A lot of the detail was actually provided by the representative from the NFU and by callers. The NFU contributor gave clear advice on how to prevent theft. It was comments from listeners which pointed out instances of how the thefts were happening. A finger was indeed pointed at Google Earth.

He spoke very sympathetically with the teacher who had had his oil taken last year and Jeremy was very interested in the item, as he always is. He takes part in the morning editorial programme meeting and was completely 'signed up' to the item.

The tennis score was about Andy Murray and was of national interest and in fact the listener on the line at that point agreed his wife was actually watching it. The listener agreed it was good news. It was simply the score and was appropriate for a live programme.

I’m comfortable that the item was informative and carried a lot of good sense advice that would actually help prevent thefts.

Nevertheless, thanks again for taking the time to contact us with your feedback which is welcomed by BBC Radio 2.

Yours Sincerely

xxx xxx | Editor Programmes

BBC Radio 2