Top Gear off screen as Clarkson is suspended
THE BBC’S decision to suspend Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson could be connected to a confrontation in North Yorkshire, it was suggested last night.
North Yorkshire Police was bombarded with so many queries relating to the “fracas” said to have happened between Clarkson and a producer on the show that it released a statement confirming that it had received no complaints about an incident in Hawes.
The BBC said the action against the Top Gear host was taken “following a fracas” with a producer.
The Yorkshire-born presenter has lurched from controversy to controversy in recent months – offending everyone from foreign diplomats to MPs and his own bosses at the BBC.
A BBC spokeswoman said: “Jeremy Clarkson has been suspended pending an investigation. Sun- day’s Top Gear and two further Top Gear shows have been postponed.
“No one else has been suspended. Top Gear will not be broadcast this Sunday. The BBC will be making no further comment at this time.”
This Sunday’s episode was set to feature Clarkson with co-hosts Richard Hammond and James May getting to grips with classic cars such as a Fiat 124 Spider, an MGB GT and a Peugeot 304 Cabriolet.
They were set to take to the road and end up at a classic track day, while Gary Lineker was the “star in a reasonably priced car”.
Clarkson was put on what was called his final warning last year following a racism row after claims he used the n-word while reciting a nursery rhyme during filming of the BBC2 programme.