VETERAN commentator David Coleman will not make his last BBC broadcast at an athletics event in County Durham after an alleged bust-up with corporation bosses.

Coleman - famous for his unintentional on-air gaffes - is to leave the BBC when his contract expires this week.

He was due to commentate on the Great North Cross Country event, in Consett, today, but North-East former Olympic athlete Steve Cram will now take the microphone.

Reports yesterday suggested the 74-year-old was furious that he would not be offered a new deal and pulled out of the international event to be broadcast on the Grandstand programme.

A BBC spokesman said the decision not to offer Coleman a new contract was taken by "mutual consent".

He said that the presenter had withdrawn from covering the cross-country event because he wanted to spend more time with his family.

Coleman may appear on television from time to time in the future.

The BBC also denied reports that Coleman was desperate to continue working in the build-up to the World Athletics Championships in Canada, next year, or that he was being forced out.

Coleman, whose blunders inspired the "Colemanballs" column in satirical magazine Private Eye, has been with the BBC for 46 years.

He began his career as an athlete in 1949, turning to journalism when injury ended his sporting career.

He presented Grandstand and covered a number of major sporting events including 19 Olympic Games and World Cup football.

Coleman, who once said "if that had gone in, it would have been a goal", also presented A Question of Sport.