Corrie star Bruce: I am finished

SACKED Coronation Street star Bruce Jones fled to an island caravan park yesterday telling punters: "I’m finished!"

And the shamed actor asked sadly: "Who would employ me now?"

Then the man who played layabout Les Battersby for 10 years revealed that he plans to write children’s books and stay well away from the limelight.

Booze-loving Bruce lost his fight to cling on to his £125,000-a-year job on Wednesday after a string of drink-fuelled antics that shocked the soap’s no-nonsense producer Steve Frost.

Not only did hardman Frost decide to tear up the 54-year-old’s contract when it expires in September, he also rubbed salt in the wounds by promising viewers that they will never see Les in Weatherfield again.

Yesterday shell-shocked Bruce darted from his home in Stockport, Cheshire, to a caravan park in Sandown on the Isle of Wight.

He drowned his sorrows by necking three pints of Guinness at an on-site bar, and chatted to visitors about how his career has gonedown the pan.

Looking tired, but talking candidly, the star told one holidaymaker: "I am bloody finished now after all this. I’m not bitter, but let’s be honest – who in a month of Sundays is going to employ me now after what happened?

"I’ll be lucky if I get a panto or even a bit in Casualty at this rate. I can’t really blame them. If they think after all this time that I have become a liability, then there’s nothing I can do about it."

Bruce told another drinker: "I’m getting out of this now. I have had enough of the pressure and all the egos and aggro that goes with it.

"I’ve always wanted to write children’s novels, so I am going to speak to my agent next week to see what we can fix up."

Bruce was suspended on full pay in March after guzzling 19 pints of stout and shocking families in his home town with outrageous comments about his showbiz colleagues.

As well as referring to "those w***ers on the Street" he also made a pathetic sexual remark about his screen wife Cilla, played by Wendi Peters, 40. Bruce confided to the Daily Star afterwards he had also been hit in the face with a glass after a pub bust-up near his former holiday bungalow in Conwy, north Wales.

And last month we told how a former police officer complained that Bruce had launched a drunken rant about Asian call centres – though the actor denied those allegations.

Bruce arrived on the street in June 1997, playing the head of the family from hell – with loudmouth wife Janice, daughter Leanne and step-daughter Toyah.
Leanne, played by Jane Danson, 28, went on to become the Street’s first hooker after her dad’s marriage failed and he went on to marry fishwife Cilla Brown.

Bruce has not been seen on the Street for weeks after Les disappeared – supposedly to become a roadie for a tribute rock band.

It is not yet known how his character will be written out when his contract ends in the autumn, but it is thought his shamed departure will be linked to the exit of his screen wife Cilla.

It has already been confirmed that Wendi is also moving out. She announced last year that she would be quitting the show to spend more time with her family.