A striking teacher has called for Jeremy Clarkson to be sacked - after the Top Gear presenter joked activists should be executed in front of their families.

Father-of-two Ken Muller was outraged his children - who are big Top Gear fans - had to hear one of their favourite TV personalities saying their dad should be killed and has reported the outburst to police.

The BBC has already received 5,000 complaints about the comments made on The One Show yesterday (Wednesday), which goes out at 7pm and has many young viewers. Speaking of striking public sector workers, Clarkson said: “I’d have them all shot. I would take them outside and execute them in front of their families.”

The City and Islington College teacher Ken Muller, who is the assistant secretary of the National Union of Teachers’ Islington branch, said: “My kids love watching Top Gear, so it’s pretty appalling for them to hear the presenter say I should be executed in front of them. I have reported it to the police and they told me I was one of a large number of people to do so.

“There are enough nutters around who might see that on TV and get inspired to do something. It’s absolutely outrageous and he should be sacked.

“This was on early in the evening. Thousands of parents might have been on strike, and then their kids came home and heard their parents should be shot. If I had said something like that on TV, I’d have police knocking on my door.

“At least it gives me an excuse to ban Top Gear from the house - I can’t stand it.”