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BBC urged to sack Jeremy Clarkson after he boasts over speeding at 186mph on public road
Updated 00:45am on 29 May 2008
The BBC faced calls to sack Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson yesterday after he claimed to have driven at 186mph on a public road.
Clarkson, who has been accused of glamourising speed, boasted of driving almost 120mph over the national speed limit in an interview at the Hay Festival in Powys, Wales.
Speed chaser: Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has admitted driving at 186mph on public roads
During the interview by Daily Mail columnist Rosie Boycott, the 48-year-old was asked what was the fastest he had ever driven. Mr Clarkson replied: 'On the public roads. . . 186.'
Last night road safety campaigners called for him to be sacked.
Mary Williams, chief executive of Brake, said: 'Jeremy Clarkson is extremely offensive and irresponsible. His comments are very upsetting to loved ones who have suffered a bereavement through a road crash because of a speeding driver. He is the most appalling role model for our next generation of drivers. The BBC should sack him - he is totally out of control.'
Mr Clarkson made the comment on Tuesday at the literary festival where he was talking about his life and cars.
The married father of three said he drove at 186mph on the Limehouse Link tunnel between Central London and Docklands in the world's fastest roadlegal car, a Bugatti Veyron, which has a top speed of 253mph.
He added: 'I haven't been pulled over for speed for 20 years and I have never been pulled over for speed while working on Top Gear. I don't drive very fast.
Clarkson is snapped allegedly talking on the phone as he drives his green Mercedes earlier this year
'I don't have any influence over what people do, I really don't. It makes no difference what I say. Top Gear is just fluff. It's just entertainment - people don't listen to me.'
Kevin Clinton, head of Road Safety at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), said: 'Obviously driving at such speed is illegal, dangerous and irresponsible, but Jeremy Clarkson's views on speed are well known and he often says outrageous things.
'We don't take what he says too seriously and hopefully other people don't either.'
While Clarkson may not have been pulled over for speeding the 48-year-old was hauled before court on speeding charges last year.
The Top Gear host had been accused of failing to name the driver on a speeding ticket but after an intervention from his lawyer Nick Freeman, better known as 'Mr Loophole', the case was dropped before it even began.
Mr Freeman, who has made his name acting for a string of celebrity clients, said the case was 'fatally flawed'.
Car firm Alfa Romeo had sent Mr Clarkson a speeding infringement notice, saying a car caught on a speed camera had been loaned to him.
The V6 Alfa Romeo Brera was snapped travelling at 82mph in a 50mph zone on the A40 in Ruislip, West London, on October 16 last year.
The case was dropped because although Alfa Romeo had loaned the car to Clarkson they had no information as who the driver was.
Reader views (19)
To all you camera loving folks out there --I think Jerramy must be safety concious because if he was doing 180 odd he must have been in 3rd gear !! cause his car was capable of around the 250mark wasn't it.... A lot of us drivers who do not have accidents are pig sick of hearing how speed kills because it's a huge CON by the powers that be. 30 Limits in Notts were designated 57 years ago why alter this stupidity when the stupid ones are making millions£...
- Mick Hall, Nottingham UK, 15/02/2010 15:42
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Come on now!
He is one of the most popular characters in BBS history and a hell of a good driver. If he tells us he has driven 186 mph, give him a fine on the show and let it be..!
Keep it up Mr.Clarkson & Co!!
- Mike, Sweden, 08/06/2008 10:41
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Clarkson travelling at 186mph sounds highly amusing. However, I believe it as much as I believe that 'Speed Kills'. I am afraid that, for all the ill-educated people in our sad, celeb-obsessed nation, who might believe in the hype, it is the knowledge that sudden stopping causes the fatality, which is where the truth lies.
Now create a suitable 'advertising strap-line' for that little enigma...
There is actually something slightly more sinister at stake here. Okay. Clarkson may have been caught out at a public gathering (well, that's the danger of having desired and then become a figure of great popularity, Jeremy) and performed his usual task of spouting forth. He is a denim and cotton-clad 'shock-jock', in his own harmless little way, as poisonous as American Howard Stern. However, he is also a product of the BBC. There is nothing like a few shock headlines to generate publicity for the forthcoming series of Top Gear. 'Running for London Mayor'...'Rolling a Jet Car'...take your pick. Publicity is what they crave and what they gain. The Beeb is where the blame lies. Sack the BBC!
- Iain P W Robertson, Lincoln, UK, 06/06/2008 20:25
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If I were to post some text taken from various articles written by Clarkson, see if you can spot a pattern:
Litter louts should be peeled and rolled in a barrel full of salt and snakes.
In just one night at my flat in London – that’s one dinner for one person – I generate enough waste to fill a hole the size of Worksop
The food at ski resorts is cooked by people whose only qualification for the job is that they are called Arabella
The main reason the war against apartheid was won is that Nelson Mandela looks good on a T-shirt.
Got it? It's called humour, sometimes referred to as 'tongue-in-cheek' comments, requiring that they are taken 'with a pinch of salt' .
Some of the comments posted here are far more ridiculous, the worrying thing is, the comments are made by people who are trying to be serious.
- Phil, Bristol, UK, 05/06/2008 11:00
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He should be sacked, not for exceeding the speed limit, but for being grossly irresponsible, and consistently promoting an attitude and way of life which is incompatible with continued life on the planet, for his children as much as for ours
- Old_Yorkshireman, Northumberland, UK, 30/05/2008 19:08
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"This guy is contemptuous of the UK driving fraternity stuck in traffic gridlock while he follows his boyhood fantasies."
Brian Joseph, Richmond
Oh, come now Brian, is this a little jealousy finding its way out now? If he wants to follow his boyhood fantasies, then great for him. I doubt he is doing it at your expense Brian, as you sit in a traffic jam sucking a lemon.
The Limehouse Link tunnel is lined with average speed cameras. If he had exceeded the speed limit by 156mph I'm sure he would have had a visit from the police by now. He has nicely played into the hands of those that love to, umm, wring their hands at such things.
And what's this nonsense about Clarkson using his popularity to promote road safety? Why should he? There are enough self-appointed dullards out there who feel the need to tell everyone what they should be doing with their lives, usually with respect to the fad du jour. Clarkson is just someone who has carved himself out as an entertainer, with no other agenda, other than having a good time while he has the capacity to do so. For that I applaud him.
Keving Clinton of RoSPA summed it up best; "'We don't take what he says too seriously and hopefully other people don't either." That's the point. Just mind your own business and go on your way.
- Md, London, 29/05/2008 14:57
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This is typical of Clarkson. Flaunting traffic laws, driving dangerously, admitting in public that he will run over any cyclist that is in front of him...this guy is contemptuous of the UK driving fraternity stuck in traffic gridlock while he follows his boyhood fantasies. Nice example for the youth of the country Big J! In a time where petrol is at ridiculous prices, global warming is real, carbon footprints are being measured and eco-friendly alternatives to the current lifestyle are being seriously examined, here we have a 48 year old boy-racer who doesn't get it or simply doesn't care. He says as much in his weekly column. He should be sacked for perpetuating habits that we can no longer afford, showing incredible bad taste and providing really terrible examples of how to live in this overcrowded country. Good riddance I say.
- Brian Joseph, Richmond, 29/05/2008 13:03
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Please this is boring - I would be very surprised if the person that wrote this article or those that have (or will) comment on it... Have themselves never broken the speed limit. So stop moaning - look at yourselves then comment!
- Julian, Amsterdam, 29/05/2008 00:42
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If Jeremy is sacked there will be no one on the BBC worth paying the license fee for. The boring anti speed bores better hope he is not sacked in case he goes into politics, he will would become very popular with a large majority of people feed up with the big brother approach to more or less anything fun in this country.
- Jon, london, 29/05/2008 00:18
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Clarkson was wrong! His neglect could have had devastating results. 186 MPH is certainly OK on a track. Not on the M1. Calls to sack him are out of place!
- John (Brit Exp Pat), Phoenix USA, 28/05/2008 23:22
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Quite frankly who gives a monkeys, its in his private life, not when working for the dreadful BBC chimps.
- Big Boy Joylove, London, 28/05/2008 22:59
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Clarkson is a top man and to all you anoraks out there get a life and stop hiding behind tree with yer speed gun in one hand and god knows whats in the other.
- Les, Midlands, 28/05/2008 22:05
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He is bonkers! The thing is that the Limehouse Link which he claims to have done this speed along is one of the most dangerous curved stretches of tunnel in London with numerous young people having been killed speeding down it. Thank god they now have numerous speed cameras and they also record your average speed at the start and the end of the tunnel to stop you speeding between cameras. That's how dangerous this tunnel is regarded. If he had said he had done this speed on a empty motorway at 5am on a summers morning when no-one was about, I could just about accept that. But Limehouse link. You need your head examined mate.
- Albert, E2 London, 28/05/2008 21:32
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Sacking him would send out the message that the BBC doesn't find his behaviour big and clever.
That said, he'll only change his ways once he's killed or seriously maimed someone.
It's a shame he's such an eejit about speed, because he's an articulate and popular man who could do so much to promote road safety.
- Rachel, Glamorgan, UK, 28/05/2008 19:26
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It is refreshing that there are still individuals prepared to say what they think, instead of what they are told to think!
- Keith Simpson, Wareham, Dorset, 28/05/2008 18:11
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I agree with Bob from New York. If Clarkson is sacked for something which happens in his private life he could sue the BBC for wrongful dismissal. As a license fee payer that would make me furious.
- Kate, London, 28/05/2008 17:40
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Why the surprise?...How can you think that a car that can do 70mph in 2nd gear is ever going to be driven under the speed limit in the UK.
- Ces, Israel, 28/05/2008 17:31
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This arrogant bumptious man should not be above the law, and yes he should be sacked by the BBC.
- Mick Jack, Wellingborough uk, 28/05/2008 16:52
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Please. He's an entertainer and makes loads of money for the BBC. Besides, without proof of the speed he went he may be fluffing it a bit. Not to say he hasn't but there are millions of speeders out there and for the BBC or any company to "sack" an employee for the possibility of speeding outside of work is ridiculous.
- Bob, New York, NY USA, 28/05/2008 16:17
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