Safe Speed Forums

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/a ... ge_id=1770


The moment Jeremy Clarkson was 'caught chatting on mobile phone while doing 70mph on motorway'
11th March 2008

For years he has railed against nanny-stateism but yesterday it looks as though was Jeremy Clarkson was caught flouting the very same draconian motoring laws he so detests.

A couple has claimed to have photographed the Top Gear presenter talking on his mobile phone while driving at 70mph on the motorway in his gas-guzzling 6.3 litre Mercedes.

Adam Blake, 22, and Hayley Byford, 21, say they saw Clarkson on the phone in the rare 1970s green, left-hand drive V8 600 Grosser Mercedes on the M40 in Oxfordshire.

Clarkson is snapped allegedly talking on the phone as he drives his green Mercedes

Mr Blake told the Daily Mirror: "We could not believe that we'd caught him out. I used to watch him every week on Top Gear and he was always banging on about the new driving laws.

"My girlfriend saw he was on his mobile. She grabbed hers and took a picture of him."

When confronted about his misdemeanour Clarkson denied that he had been using a phone while driving.
The newspaper claimed it later confronted Clarkson at his Chipping Norton home where he first denied being in the car and, on seeing the picture, said: "Er, that isn't a phone."

Clarkson then reportedly said: "Look, I write a column for another newspaper. I'm not allowed to talk you."

Drivers caught using mobiles at the wheel face three points on their licence and a £60 fine.

A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said: "Operating a hand-held phone while driving is not only illegal but dangerous.

“It is disappointing to see someone well-known doing this.”

Drivers caught using mobiles at the wheel face three points on their licence and a £60 fine.

Clarkson was acquitted last September of speeding after the speed camera failed to prove the identity of the driver.

_________________
Anyone who tells you that nothing is impossible has never bathed in a saucer of water.

Intrepid news spotter CJG of Safespeed today noticed a reporter from tree guzzling newspaper The Daily Mail providing proof that a celebrity using a mobile phone does not cause instant death and disaster on the roads.

This reader ponders the possible safety implications of drivers who pace another vehicle to allow a passenger to take a picture of a celebrity. Should drivers really be encouraged to be distracted from driving by looking for candid celebrity photo opportunities.

_________________
Driving fast is for a particular time and place, I can do it I just only do it occasionally because I am a gentleman.
- James May

I saw this on the news this morning. I recon it's probably just as dangerous to hang about in someone's N/S blind spot whilst a passanger takes a photo of another motorist

_________________
Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

Great minds!

_________________
Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

i had this in one of our cars at work (no nothing exciting, already launched at motor shows and only a month before uk available).
noticed slightly erratic driving of black car, not bothered about intentions really but driving instinct told me to get out of his way, blipped the throttle up to a few more apples to find the t*t following me and a short while later coming up the inside for a snap

[pedant]The picture of Clarkson was clearly taken from the driver's seat of a car in L1, as Jezza is clearly in L2 in a LHD car[/pedant]

Strange how the fact that the published picture was taken using a camera / camera phone by a person driving a car and conveniently brushed under the carpet......

If I was the editor, I'd have run with the headline, "JC gets his uber cool M-B 600 Grosse on the road at last!"

_________________
Simon

He was only doing 70mph??

_________________
Andrew.

I'm wondering if they claimed he was only doing 70 so as not to incriminate themselves... Still, who cares about his speed - as the article clearly mentions, he was driving a gas-guzzling 6.3 litre Mercedes (you can almost hear the author muttering it to themselves, the words dripping with disgust, as they typed that), so he's the spawn of all evil anyway

_________________
Chris

But I believe his despicable act has prompted a police force to say they will invesigate. Pity they are not as quick to investigate things like burglarys, muggings etc,.