The TV show Top Gear has been blasted by disability campaigners after a recent feature on electric cars on Sunday’s episode showed presenters James May and Jeremy Clarkson parking in designated disabled parking bays. The pair were both trying out electric cars by driving them to Cleethorpes in Lincolnshire and took a break to pull over into a car park to discuss their respective cars merits.
Instead of pulling into regular parking bays, they were both seen parking in spaces that were reserves for disable drivers, and this has sparked a storm of protest from several disable motoring groups, and one said that it was a typical thing for Clarkson to do. They sat and discussed their vehicles in detail; Clarkson drove a £31,000 Nissan Leaf, while May was driving a £33,000 Peugeot iOn, before asking “should you buy an electric car?”
Sitting happily in the disabled bays, the pair laughed and joked about the cars they were driving and the cost of buying the electric motors which have top speeds of 90mph. They also talked about luggage space and the specially fitted windscreen wipers that were virtually silent. It was they got out of the cars and actually stood on the disabled signs that shocked viewers actually realised they were parked in the disabled bays.
In a seemingly thoughtless piece of editing, the very next slot on the show had Richard Hammond meeting disabled soldiers who had been seriously injured in Afghanistan.
The soldiers, some of whom were missing 3 limbs, were shown joking and laughing with Hammond as they took part in cross country racing in 4×4’s as part of their preparation for the gruelling Dakar Rally.
There are on-going concerns about the amount of able bodied drivers who use disabled parking bays, leaving those who really need them out in the cold. Showing television presenters’ doing exactly that is sure to add more fuel to the fire.
