TV bosses are remaining tight-lipped after the shock news that star presenter and newsreader Alastair Stewart has been charged with drink-driving.

Stewart, 50, presents the well-known programme Police Camera Action - ITV's car-crime show that highlights bad driving.

The newsreader, of Wood Lane, Bramdean, near Winchester, was said to have lost control of his year-old silver Mercedes and collided with a hedge just metres from his own doorstep.

Stewart, pictured, was arrested at his farmhouse home at about 10pm on Thursday and spent the night in a Winchester police station cell.

Yesterday the father of four was bailed to appear before Basingstoke Magistrates' Court at 11am on July 1 where, if convicted, he could face a ban from the roads.

A spokesman for ITV, said: "We have no comment to make."

A spokesman for Optomen TV, the company that makes the programme, also refused to make any comment.

Peter Rushton, a spokesman for Carlton television, which makes London Tonight, the nightly news programme co-presented by Mr Stewart, declined to comment on the charge but did confirm that a new series of Police, Camera, Action! had not yet been scheduled for broadcast.

Hampshire police confirmed they were alerted to the accident in Wood Lane by a passing motorist, and after running a registered owner's check, they went to Stewart's home to arrest him.

The newsreader was back at his Bramdean home yesterday morning and refused to make any comment to the Daily Echo.