Evans was sacked by Virgin Radio

Bosses at Virgin Radio had no choice but to sack "arrogant" presenter Chris Evans, the High Court has heard.

Mr Evans, 36, is suing Virgin's parent company for share options valued at �8.6m which he says were withheld after his contract was terminated in June 2001.

He is claiming he is entitled to 4.9 million shares in Scottish Media Group (SMG), Virgin Radio's owner, and a further 1.2 million shares in SMG TV.

But SMG has said the star breached his contract "in a highly public manner".

Geoffrey Vos QC, representing SMG, said: "By his conduct Mr Evans made it 100% clear by June 28, 2001, the date of his dismissal, that he would not do what Virgin Radio's management reasonably required him to do as a presenter of a national radio breakfast show."

'Breach'

He added: "Mr Evans would not agree to turn up to present the show as he was contractually obliged to do.

He got very drunk... and he was not able to attend Virgin Radio and do the show Christopher Pymont QC for Chris Evans

"If he chose not to turn up because he was too hungover, he did not. That is a breach of his contractual obligations, fair and square."

Mr Vos said Mr Evans deliberately brought the station into disrepute "by courting seriously adverse publicity in the popular media".

He referred to what he called the "Waitrose incident", when Mr Evans was seen buying alcohol at a supermarket when he was off work with illness.

But Christopher Pymont QC, representing Mr Evans, told Mr Justice Lightman that Virgin Radio bosses had put his client under so much stress that he was too ill to work.

Mr Pymont said the relationship between Mr Evans and radio bosses had broken down when the station had stopped asking the star for his ideas.

The problem came to a head when management failed to meet with Mr Evans, said Mr Pymont.

He feared he was about to get the sack and "took it very hard", said Mr Pymont.

"What he did was to go out and get very drunk with the consequence that the following day he was not able to attend Virgin Radio and do the show."

He said Mr Evans had been "fairly brutally sacked" without being given any chance to put his case.

The case continues on Thursday.