Clarkson has wings clipped over airport ‘hate crime’
Germans dismiss claim Argentinian stopped him boarding flight and say he missed a boarding call
JEREMY CLARKSON has become embroiled in yet another cross-border row after he claimed he was stopped from boarding a plane by an Argentinian airport worker bent on revenge.
Clarkson said he was blocked from catching his flight from Germany to Britain in a “hate crime”, saying a member of staff told him: “I’m from Argentina, so f--- you.”
But yesterday, the airport issued a statement insisting Clarkson had in fact simply missed several calls to board.
The accused member of staff was not Argentinian but Spanish, a spokesman added, as local police said they were not aware of any “hate crime allegations” nor of Clarkson following up the incident with them.
Clarkson, whose new motoring show coincidentally airs tomorrow, was standing by his original claims, according to a spokesman. The incident follows a much-publicised dispute in 2014, in which Clarkson and his Top Gear co-hosts James May and Richard Hammond had to flee Argentina after using a licence plate appearing to refer to the Falklands conflict.
On Monday, the three presenters and their team were due to fly from Stuttgart Airport to Heathrow after filming.
Clarkson told The Sun an “ignorant little worm” at the airport had told the team they had missed the flight, marching off “looking pleased with himself, no doubt to enjoy a dinner of refried beans”.
“He’s a stupid, bitter and twisted little man who can’t get it into his head that Argentina’s armed forces are completely useless,” Clarkson added. “He made us miss our plane and he will pay for it. The police said it was a hate crime and he would be arrested. Yes, even the Germans were 100 per cent on our side – for once.”
A spokesman for his show The Grand Tour said witnesses to the altercation supported Clarkson’s version of events. But Stuttgart Airport released a statement to say: “In this case, Mr Clarkson and his team missed several calls in the lounge while the other passengers have already boarded.”
He added that it would investigated the event, but “we do already know that the employee mentioned is Spanish, not Argentinian”.
Christian Woerner, a press spokesman for the Reutlingen police, told The Daily Telegraph that no charges were pressed nor was anybody arrested.
The police said that the television crew were in the lounge of the airport and did not hear an announcement saying that the BA flight, which was meant to be delayed, was going to be on time. Reutlingen police said they were not aware of any “hate crime” allegations. “I don’t know what was said during the argument, but I doubt the Falklands were mentioned,” Mr Woerner added.
The spokesman added that Clarkson was given a card by police in case he wanted to follow up with the incident but had not yet used the number.
The trio have previously been criticised for a string of offensive remarks about foreigners. Last year, Clarkson was axed by the BBC after a so-called “fracas” in which he allegedly assaulted a producer who had failed to provide a hot meal after filming.