Northern Ireland’s Kris Meeke and co-driver Paul Nagle have been sacked by the Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team for crashing too often.

However, it’s not just the high number of mistakes made by Meeke that made up the minds of Citroën bosses, the severity of the crashes were also a major factor in his dismissal.

A statement from the team on twitter said: "Due to an excessively high number of crashes, some of which were particularly heavy, Citroën Racing WRT has decided to terminate the participation of Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle in the 2018 WRC.”

This is a devastating blow for Meeke, who hails from Dungannon and Killarney’s Paul Nagle whose latest crash occurred in Portugal for which Meeke made a public apology to the team. Both were unhurt but this spectacular crash on top of a number of others has triggered this reaction from Citroën.

Team Principal Pierre Budar said Meeke's accidents meant he had decided to change the line-up on "safety" grounds.

"This wasn't an easy decision to make because it affects a driver and a co-driver, but it is largely founded on safety issues which come under my preoccupations as team principal," said Budar.

"We have consequently chosen to make this decision as a preventive measure."

The official Citroën statement announcing Meeke's departure underlined that he was being dropped "due to an excessively high number of crashes, some of which were particularly heavy and could have had serious consequences with regard to the crew's safety" and added that the risks Meeke took "were unjustified by the sporting stakes at play".

Ironically the removal of Meeke from the team may come as a bonus for Waterford man Craig Breen who remains part of Citroën’s plans for the rest of the World Rally Championship season and may be in line to move up the rankings within the team after several noteworthy performances earlier in the season.