The Stig's Top Gear job hits break down lane

The BBC has slammed the brakes on racing driver Ben Collins's career as Top Gear's The Stig following their High Court battle, according to sources.

Mr Collins is thought to be highly unlikely to return to television screens as the show's faceless mystery driver after writing an autobiography.

There are also doubts over whether the character will reappear at all in the next series of the programme, even if another, different driver is found to play him.

A decision on whether The Stig will be axed altogether is expected in the next two months but is unlikely to be announced before the series starts in December.

The corporation took legal action to block publication by HarperCollins of the autobiography which would unmask Mr Collins's identity.

But after more than a day of legal argument in private, Mr Justice Morgan said on Wednesday that he would not grant the BBC a temporary injunction.

Simon Dowson-Collins, HarperCollins' director of legal services, said The Stig was in court yesterday - but added that the publisher would not confirm the mystery driver's identity until the book launch on 16 September.

He said: "We were very surprised the BBC took such action to prevent freedom of expression. We maintained all along that the information is already in the public domain."

It was widely reported that The Stig was Mr Collins after his company's financial reports listed Top Gear among its work.

The BBC responded that this was "no surprise" as he had appeared numerous times on the programme and supplied drivers for it.

A spokesman for the BBC, which claimed the book would breach confidentiality obligations, said: "The Top Gear audience has always made it clear they enjoyed the mystery around the identity of The Stig. The BBC felt it important to protect that."