BBC presenter Jeremy Clarkson, host of the popular car show  Top Gear told reporters he has regrets after getting into a 'fracus' with a producer that got him suspended from the show, pending an investigation.

Top Gear is one of the most lucrative programmes for the publicly funded BBC.

But its 54-year-old host was already on a final warning from the BBC after accusations last year that he used racist language during the show's filming.

Brand analyst Robert Haigh says Clarkson is hugely important to the broadcaster, and losing him could be costly. 

"For the Top Gear brand, specifically, it would almost certainly have a detrimental effect because he in effect is the show. It's hard to see that they would be able to replicate the show in its current form without him - they could maybe relaunch it, but it wouldn't be quite the same show and it's hard to imagine it having the same popularity."

Clarkson became the popular face of Top Gear by mixing a passion for cars with blunt banter and swagger.

An on-air style that sometimes offended all sorts of groups  - environmentalists, mental health charities, even cyclists.

And now that swagger may be biting him back.

He wrote in his column in May that his bosses at the BBC had said "one more offensive remark, anywhere anytime, I'll be sacked.'

An online petition to save Clarkson from losing his job now has over 350,000 signatures.