Uh oh - Jezza done a booboo!

Captain Slow IRL

Courtesy of yahoo.com

Clarkson in 'car phone' photo probe

Police are examining a photograph apparently showing Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson using a mobile phone while driving.

Adam Blake, 22, and Hayley Byford, 21, claim they photographed Clarkson on the phone as he did 70mph in a rare, 1970s 6.3l left-hand drive V8 600 Grosser Mercedes on the M40 in Oxfordshire.

A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said: "We have been handed the photograph and we will be looking at it with a view to a possible prosecution. If we have got evidence we think could be supported in court, we will take action."

The photograph was given to police by the Daily Mirror newspaper, which was initially sent it by Mr Blake and Miss Byford.

Mr Blake told the newspaper on Tuesday: "We could not believe that we'd caught him out. My girlfriend saw he was on his mobile. She grabbed hers and took a picture of him."

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 spokeswoman for the BBC's Top Gear programme said this was not a BBC matter and therefore offered no comment.

Superintendent Mick Doyle, head of roads policing for Thames Valley Police, said: "We know that using a mobile phone whilst driving is extremely dangerous.

"It has the same effect on a person as being just over the legal limit for drink driving. To use a mobile phone whilst driving at any time is dangerous and at a high speed on the motorway it is simply stupid."

endplate

I'm guessing Adam Blake and Hayley Byford won't be on Clarksons Christmas card list anytime soon.

What a pair of muppets with their 15 seconds of fame. If it was any other Joe Soap using their they wouldn't be bothered snapping them

Captain Slow IRL

What a bunch of a-holes, I wonder how much they got for the photo?

javaboy

Am I the only one who doesn't believe the "my girlfriend took the picture on her phone" line? Sounds like a perfect example of Potkettleblackenstein's disease.

ambro25

Since when does a third party's snap by a mobile phone camera constitute receivable evidence in a UK Court

Tony Danza

Seems like they just want a moment in the spot light, but since Clarkson's an @asshole, I'd like to see him get a fine for it.

Anan1

Tony Danza wrote: »

Seems like they just want a moment in the spot light, but since Clarkson's an @asshole, I'd like to see him get a fine for it.

+1

pburns

Actually the mobile phone-when-driving thing is one of my pet hates...

But i agree the boyfriend/girlfriend combo were assholes shopping him to a tabloid. Having said that i hope Hamster and James rip the p155 out of him something proper!

Sherifu

Slow news day.

Royale with Cheese

They should have blackmailed him instead of going to some tabloid.

Anan1

pburns wrote: »

But i agree the boyfriend/girlfriend combo were assholes shopping him to a tabloid.

Why? They probably got a nice holiday out of it.:)

Captain Slow IRL

pburns wrote: »

Actually the mobile phone-when-driving thing is one of my pet hates...

But i agree the boyfriend/girlfriend combo were assholes shopping him to a tabloid. Having said that i hope Hamster and James rip the p155 out of him something proper!

Me too, but you don't go tattling on them!

Captain Slow IRL

Here's the picture!

Anan1

land9 wrote: »

Me too, but you don't go tattling on them!

In general, i'd agree with you. When the subject's as bloated a windbag as Clarkson, however, i'm all for the little people making a few quid.:)

What a cool car, though.

Gary ITR

That picture would never hold up in court

Wossack

Photo looks like it was taken from the drivers side, so I'd imagine the photographer to be just as liable as Clarkson

slow news day indeed though

Anan1

Wossack wrote: »

Photo looks like it was taken from the drivers side, so I'd imagine the photographer to be just as liable as Clarkson

Ever heard of back seats?;)

javaboy

Anan1 wrote: »

Ever heard of back seats?;)

I don't know about you but I don't stow my gf in the back seat. She would beat me.

Anyway as said that picture won't hold up in court. It's obviously a phone and I've no doubt he did it but that photo could easily have been doctored. Plus there's no reg in this picture or face. (There may be other photos taken at the time though)

Henry Ford III

Picture looks damning ok. Wouldn't be difficult to find out what he was driving that day and where, and also to check his mobile records for verification.

Stupid thing to do Jezza.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

that's an awfully steady picture for a car doing 70mph

cabrwab

Not that it is an excuse, but could he be stopped in traffic just wondering. But assholes for doing it to anybody. Just cause he's a windbag?! oh wait a bit famous too.
Me def thinks the driver took this photo.
And unless there is a face photo it could be the back of my dads head?!!!

Sherifu

Be a laugh if it was taken in some pub carpark.

javaboy

cabrwab wrote: »

And unless there is a face photo it could be the back of my dads head?!!!

They could probably identify it as Clarkson from that silly brown leather RAF wannabee jacket he always wears

E92

That picture doesn't look like a car that's doing 70 mph to me. If it was anyone else that photo would never have been taken.

Henry Ford III

Road has 3 lanes. 2 cars both doing 70mph on a good surface. Looks and sounds plausible enough to me.

Mitch Connor

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Road has 3 lanes. 2 cars both doing 70mph on a good surface. Looks and sounds plausible enough to me.

Steady pic of th car yes, but a steady pic of the background moving past at 70mph? I don't think so.

javaboy

A simple defense would be that's a bluetooth headset and he was pressing it to his ear/adjusting it. He just has to find a bluetooth headset that looks reasonably like the photo.

nytraveller

land9 wrote: »

Here's the picture!

That car is definetly stopped or in very slow moving traffic.
Looks like he's not wearing a seat belt either.

Henry Ford III

Tauren wrote: »

Steady pic of th car yes, but a steady pic of the background moving past at 70mph? I don't think so.

You are right. Maybe they were nearly stopped? Not sure that makes any odds mind you?

cabrwab

Doesn't really make any difference about the traffic moving or stopped, but it just in the 1st post the article makes a huge deal out of 70+mph. SO i just think the guy who toke the photo is a scumbag therefore lies. Granted he did sell it to the mirror, not the 1st time they're know for doctering photos.

I Just don't think unless they have mulitple photos were you can clearly make out face/car reg/ phone def in his hand.

We'll wait and see.

He don't have the seat belt on.

Seth Brundle

That is a picture of someone in a green car seemingly on the phone. There is no indication that it was taken when the person who 'took' the pic claims it was.
There is no evidence that it was JC, no evidence that it was even taken in the UK!
It could even be alleged that it may have been taken in a car park.
Either way, it will be difficult for the police to pursue this without an admission of guilt!