LAURIE MAYER, the BBC news anchorman who walked off the Kent studio set after protesting about alleged bullying and harassment against staff, has won trade union gold for his stand.

The National Union of Journalists awarded Mr Mayer, former presenter of the nightly programme BBC South East Today from the BBC’s Tunbridge Wells studios, a Gold Badge, its highest honour.

The presentation took place at the NUJ’s annual delegate meeting in Scarborough.

Mr Mayer had alleged that there was a climate of fear in the newsroom.

He claimed that some staff had been reduced to tears by alleged bullying and, as a senior broadcaster, took up their case with management. He later claimed the BBC thought him a troublemaker and sought to blacken his name, allegations denied by the corporation.

The BBC commissioned a report from former senior employee Richard Ayre but its findings were never published.

Mr Mayer, who wrote an article about the alleged culture in Tunbridge Wells studios in a national newspaper, later claimed unfair dismissal for whistleblowing.

Although he lost the case, which was funded by the NUJ, an employment tribunal in Ashford rebuked the BBC for faults in its processes. A number of senior executives were transferred.

Accepting the award, Mr Mayer said he was deeply honoured. "Nothing is more valuable than the good opinion of one’s peers," he said.

"Without the union’s unstinting support in funding the legal action and supporting me personally it would never have been possible to expose what the tribunal called a culture of bullying and harassment at the BBC in Tunbridge Wells."

"This award will help draw a line under the wretched episode that brought an abrupt and premature end to a career I loved.

"Whistleblowing is, after all, the ultimate job disqualification. For that reason I hope no one else will have to receive a gold badge for exposing bullying at the BBC or anywhere else."

He accused the BBC of still being in denial over alleged bullying and called on the organisation to be more transparent. He urged it to introduce an independent element to its internal grievance procedure.

"The BBC remains a great public service institution but one of the greatest public services it must now perform is to treat its own people fairly and with respect."