A former BBC Radio Suffolk presenter has jumped ship to rival station Radio Caroline.

Ray Clark, who had a show on Radio Suffolk on Sunday evenings, has blasted the BBC following his departure earlier this month. 

The BBC has made a series of cuts to local radio services in recent months, with the number of hours broadcast from Suffolk reduced.

Mr Clark said: "Since the BBC has decided it no longer wants many highly experienced and long serving presenters, then it’s reasonable to assume that they’re not really worried about the people that listened to the shows they presented.

"But at Radio Caroline we’ve been making listeners welcome for nearly 60 years. My new Sunday early evening show on Caroline will be in the same style as my former BBC show and I’ll be playing the best songs, Caroline classics, with, perhaps an occasional witty comment – it’s what I do.”

Mr Clark is returning to his roots as he started his broadcasting career on the former pirate radio station 40 years ago. 

He has often presented shows on Radio Caroline over the years, including some of the monthly broadcasts from the station’s radio ship Ross Revenge, which is moored on the Blackwater Estuary in Essex.

His new show on Sunday evenings will begin on October 22 and will cover the same area as his former show on Radio Suffolk. 

Radio Caroline station manager Peter Moore welcomed Mr Clark's return to Caroline on a permanent basis.

“There is the saying, ‘when you are in a hole, stop digging', but BBC management are continuing with a reorganisation of their local services while refusing to see that it is a disaster,” he said.

“Ray is just one of many loyal and competent BBC presenters who have been dismissed or placed in a position where they felt obliged to resign.

"But their loss is our gain and we are delighted to welcome Ray, or welcome him back in fact, and to place him on all our broadcast platforms."