Clarkson: The torygraph - Jeremy Clarkson criticised for parking in disability bay

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring...criticised-for-parking-in-disability-bay.html

Top Gear has been slammed by disability campaigners after presenters Jeremy Clarkson and James May parked in disabled parking bays during a feature on electric cars on Sunday night's show.

The pair were trying out electric cars and were driving them to Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, when they pulled over into a car park to discuss the merits of the motors.

But rather than parking in normal parking bays, the pair pulled up in spaces reserved for disabled people - causing a storm of protest from disabled motoring groups who said it was 'typical' of Clarkson.

To add fuel to the fire, just after the slot about electric cars, Richard Hammond met a team of disabled soldiers who had been severely injured in Afghanistan.

The disabled soldiers - some who had lost three limbs - were shown laughing and joking with Hammond as they took part in a cross-country racing in 4x4 cars as they prepare for the grueling Dakar Rally.

During the slot about electric cars, Jeremy Clarkson - driving a ?31,000 Nissan Leaf - and James May - driving a ?33,000 Peugeot iOn - discussed the merits of non-petrol cars, asking 'should you buy an electric car?'.
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After parking up in the disabled bays the pair laughed and joked about the costs of the cars and the electric motors - which are capable of a top speed of up to 90mph.

They also joked about the luggage space and how electric cars had to be fitted with special windscreen wipers which make barely any noise.

But it was as they stepped out of their cars - with Clarkson and May even standing on top of a disabled road marking that shocked viewers realised they had parked in disabled bays.

Jim Rawlings, of Disabled Motoring UK, said he was sure that Clarkson 'wouldn't have cared' about parking up in a disabled bay.

He said: "I'm sure the last thing on Jeremy Clarkson's mind was that he was parked in a disabled bay.

"The abuse of non-disabled people parking in disabled bays is rife, and with people like Jeremy Clarkson and James May doing this other motorists will just think they can just park wherever they like.

"People who are patently not disabled, like Clarkson and May, obviously didn't have a passing care that a disabled person might have needed those spaces.

"I'm sure Jeremy Clarkson especially would not feel contrite about parking in a disabled bay - it shows a lack of feeling and care and a total lack of compassion."

Peter Lyne, of the Disabled Motorists Foundation, said it was 'extremely frustrating' watching non-disabled people park in disabled parking bays.

He said: "It's an immense problem and is an extremely frustrating issue which is not helped by the likes of Jeremy Clarkson and James May."

Viewer Adam Sullivan, 32, said: "I was disgusted to see them parking up in a disabled bays.

"The pair of them were even standing about on the disability road markings and they didn't even notice it.

"For them to be so casual about it is disgusting and they should be hauled over the coals - along with the entire production team - for doing something which in the end, will encourage viewers to think there is nothing wrong with parking in disabled bays."

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I noticed that almost immediately and wasn't too pleased about it. It's one of my pet peeves - having been injured in motorcycle crashes in the past and thus needing to use those spots on a temporary basis, it's really annoying when some perfectly able-bodied jerk has taken the last spot so that those needing and permitted to do so cannot.

The only saving grace, I think, was that there appeared to be several other spaces so they weren't taking the last ones and I'd imagine they left quickly.
 
I agree. Normally when I catch someone able-bodied who parks in one, I mess with their car's windscreen wipers so they're sticking out in random directions. That way, they've been inconvenienced for being lazy.
 
Noticed it, knew there would be a backlash.

There were five empty disabled spaces, they used two. Presumably it was done because they didn't want random cars in the way.
 
While I agree it wasn't the most tactful thing they could have done I feel it is worth clarifying something.

The percentage of disabled spaces in any given car park is normally mandated by the local authority and since they tend to be full of the overly politically correct very often the capacity often exceeds both demand and the percentage of qualifying drivers on the population as a whole. As an example the closest supermarket to where I used to live has nearly three times the number of slots allocated to drivers with the qualifying badge as it does to Parent and Child spaces because that was conditional on the planning application. What you therefore end up with is a huge number of empty spaces becuase there aren't enough disabled drivers to fill them meanwhile people are struggling to find spaces wide enough for them to unload small children out of car seats.

Should May and Clarkson have parked in those spaces? Looking at the backlash of that article probably not, even if that area had been closed, as is likely, for the purposes of the filming.

Should the obsessively PC numpties at local councils be taken out and shot for not being able to analyse data or use common sense? Yes.
 
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Steve Jobs does this all of the time. Where's the out crys for that?

Steve Jobs actually is medically handicapped. He's had pancreatic cancer since 2004. He's appeared to have had at least complications if not a re-occurrence at least once since then and has been out on medical leave repeatedly. As someone with a family member who has to undergo therapy for cancer - yeah, sorry, anyone going through that is emphatically (and, in most places, legally) entitled to that spot. Low energy due to reduced red blood cell count, inability to walk significant distances., etc.,etc. -at a minimum. Vertigo, nausea, physical pain and burning sensations are also common. Even if the treatments are on an outpatient basis, some days they can barely drive. Some days they can't.

XKCD (whose author apparently is either himself suffering from cancer or his S.O. is) recently posted this regarding cancer, which is very germane here.

lanes.png


The alt-tag is: "Each quarter of the lanes from left to right correspond loosely to breast cancer stages one through four (at diagnosis)."

This shit just doesn't 'go away' even if they don't see it any more on scans.

Try again.
 
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They will have filmed at that location with the permission and co-operation of the site owners, who probably suggested the disabled bays as a good place to film - out of the way of the majority of the car park. They did a short piece to camera, during which time they didn't move away from the cars.

Clarkson probably has good reason to be a little miffed at the guy from Disabled Motoring UK saying that Clarkson probably doesn't care about parking in disabled bays. He might be a loudmouth, but he's not a monster - in fact, as we know, he's a great supporter of disability charities.
 
Good point. He isn't one of the major patrons of Help for Heroes for nothing. Doubtless he will make a typical riposte in his Times column next weekend.
 
I'm sure they'd have moved their car if someone needed the space. Number of people actually inconvenienced by this? Zero.

The inconvenience to disabled people attempting to park caused by their two cars probably was outweight ten to one by the rest of the film crew irregardless of whether the two cars were parked in disabled spots or not.
 
Steve Jobs does this all of the time. Where's the out crys for that?

Jobs (Apple) owns the lot in question, and it isn't exactly a public place.

I suspect Clarkson was simply trying to illustrate that if you drive an electric vehicle, there is definitely something wrong with your head, and hence one should be permitted to park in said spaces. At least, that's the point I'd make.
 
I agree. Normally when I catch someone able-bodied who parks in one, I mess with their car's windscreen wipers so they're sticking out in random directions. That way, they've been inconvenienced for being lazy.

Remember that you can't always tell if a person is handicapped by just looking at them. They may have something internal.
 
Remember that you can't always tell if a person is handicapped by just looking at them. They may have something internal.

That's why they're required to display their disabled parking permit behind the windshield.
 
A parking permit which they probably have, as Kiff, the one armed sound man, is still working for them. He's got an artificial arm... which doesn't lend itself too well to performance driving.

Unless Kiff MacManus in the sound department of Top Gear is not Kiff the one armed sound man, in which case, my mistake.


Given the subject matter of the final film, I'll let this one go. I've seen plenty of supermarkets with 8 or 10 empty handicapped spaces while the rest of the lot is full. Additionally (I've had another look), that parking lot looked relatively empty while they were filming.

Much ado about nothing.
 
I wonder if this was intentional by the TG crew in order to get attention since they're not exactly afraid of being politically incorrect from time to time on just about anyone.
 
I wonder if this was intentional by the TG crew in order to get attention since they're not exactly afraid of being politically incorrect from time to time on just about anyone.
I think it's about this. I guess this was a planned (as in "look, let's move the car over there, it's a disabled spot!") stunt, in co-operation and with permisson of the car park's owner, as Amie8 suggested.
 
Not forgetting the fact, that, in the UK at least, there is no provision in law for disabled parking spaces on private land. It is a please don't park there symbol. You can't be fined for parking in it. The ONLY people that can issue parking fines are councils on public roads and the police. Yes, i know some private companies TRY to, but they are unenforceable in law.
 
My Lord, talk about nitpicking, that lot is empty.
 
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