A SPORTS journalist who claimed he lost his job with BBC Scotland because he was English has settled with the corporation on the eve of a tribunal hearing into the case.

Mark Souster claimed a Scottish woman had been given his former post as a rugby presenter because of her nationality, and was due to claim at an employment tribunal in Glasgow yesterday that he was a victim of racial discrimination.

But the hearing was cancelled when the two sides agreed to settle for what is understood to be a four-figure sum.

The 43-year-old, who now works freelance for the Sunday Times, said yesterday that he had signed a confidentiality clause as part of the settlement and was unable to comment on the case. He was also unable to confirm the amount of money involved in the deal.

Mr Souster, who was a presenter with Rugby Special for three seasons, had complained he was sidelined for a Scottish journalist when he was dropped from his job as a rugby presenter with BBC Scotland five years ago. The job went to Jill Douglas, formerly of Border Television, who became the first female rugby presenter.

Mr Souster claimed it was because BBC Scotland wanted a Scot to present their new revamped rugby special and alleged he was discriminated against on the grounds of his national origin. BBC Scotland denied discrimination.

BBC Scotland had previously argued at a hearing four years ago that tribunals had no powers to hear the case under the Race Relations Act because the Scots and the English were not separate racial groups.

This argument was later thrown out on appeal at the Court of Session which ruled that Scotland and England were different nations.

That decision in December 2000 referred to a previous House of Lords ruling 30 years ago that Scotland's rich cultural past and its national spirit made it a separate nation.

The Lords had ruled: ''The Scots are a nation because of Bannockburn and Flodden, Culloden and the pipes of Lochnaw, because of Jenny Geddes and Flora Macdonald, because of frugal living and respect for learning, because of Robert Burns and Walter Scott.''

Mr Souster's racial discrimination case, which had received the support of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), was due to be fought at a hearing in Glasgow yesterday.

A spokeswoman for the CRE said yesterday: ''The preliminary issues in this case were very important in establishing in law that there can be direct and indirect discrimination arising from the fact that a person is of Scots or English national origins within Great Britain.''