Jeremy Clarkson claims BBC executive offered him Top Gear job back as Chris Evans texted him about his offer

BBC presenter left the hugely popular car show after a 'fracas' with producer

Chris Evans with Jeremy Clarkson outside BBC Radio 2 Studios last month (Rex Features)

Jeremy Clarkson has claimed that the BBC offered him his Top Gear job back - as Chris Evans texted him saying he had got the role.

Clarkson, 55, left the show earlier this year after a “fracas” involving producer Oisin Tymon.

Speculation over his replacement, amid fears of Top Gear’s permanent departure, was ended by a BBC announcement confirming 49-year-old Evans would take over.

In today’s Sun column, Clarkson claims that last week “over a cup of tea in a Mayfair hotel,” he was asked by a “senior executive” whether he would re-join the internationally successful franchise.

Writing that his response to the offer was “‘I’d rather eat my own head’,” it was at that moment Clarkson claims that he received a text from Evans telling him of his offer.

It is not the first time Clarkson has made such claims. Yesterday, he made similar remarks in which he suggested that having been “compared to Jimmy Savile” he could not return to the BBC despite senior BBC bosses asking him to do so.

But his claims were rubbished by Radio 2 DJ Evans, who told listeners: “Well, as to whether Jeremy was offered his old job back or not, either outside or inside his own head, he still said no to the voices.”

A spokesperson for BBC denied Clarkson’s claims yesterday.

"We haven't offered another Top Gear contract and the BBC had placed on record its thanks to Jeremy for his broadcasting on the programme and wish him well for the future," they said.

Clarkson has also given the most explicit indication yet he will be returning to TV.

“But I won’t miss making a car show,” he writes. “Because other broadcasters are available so I don’t have to stop doing that.”

ITV, Netflix and Amazon are all understood to be interested in signing the presenter and his Top Gear co-host James May and Richard Hammond, according to the Guardian.

“They have had offers and they are close to making a decision about what they want to do,” an industry source reportedly told the newspaper.