Lorry driver Andy Townsend booked for BBC podcast after being mistaken for ex-footballer

A truck driver called Andy Townsend has told how he was booked to appear on BBC podcast Sacked in the Morning after being mistaken for the former Republic of Ireland footballer.

Producers wanted to get the ex-Aston Villa and Chelsea midfielder as a guest on the new series of the show presented by Amy Irons and former Scotland manager Craig Levein.

A member of the team got in touch with an Andy Townsend whose name showed up on a BBC contacts system and he said he would be happy to come on the podcast.

The booking was made but alarm bells were raised later when the man said he would have to do the interview from the cab of his lorry.

It turned out he was an HGV driver from Lincoln who thought he was being booked as a fan to talk about his team Lincoln City.

Bosses decided to invite the lorry-driving Andy Townsend, 50, onto the show anyway to explain the mix-up.

He said: “The initial contact was through a text message. I just got this text message saying ‘Would you be interested in doing this podcast?’.

“I just thought it was a general football chat so I said ‘Yeah I’m up for that’.

“We were exchanging text messages and arranging what date we could do the recording.

“They said there was only one date available and I said ‘Okay then, being a lorry driver I’ll see if I can be parked up and I will arrange my breaks around it’.

“It was only the week before it when I got a phone call and they said ‘We’ve got a few alarm bells ringing. You mentioned you were a lorry driver, you’re not the Andy Townsend who played for Chelsea in the 1980s are you?’.

“I get the odd thing like that when I give my name out over the phone but it’s the first time there’s been a genuine mistake.”