Top Gear in trouble again.

[Frenchie]

Looks like the Top Gear show is in trouble again after filming a tad to close to The Cenotaph.

[oldskool]

meh ,, theyll be just glad of any and all publicity they can grab from anywhere leading up to the shows launch

[Red Baron]

I was in London on Saturday and missed them hooning about as got the tube from Victoria to the O2 via Westminster, if we'd left the station at Westminster I may have seen them. Even George Osborne was complaining about the noise via Twitter as apparently he was in Whitehall trying to write his budget.

[Willowsdad]

The only thing I can see they done wrong was a burnout a bit close to the cenotaph. I'd love them to shut down London and film gymkhana 9. Maybe Ken block was just showing off and didn't realise the importance of the monument.

[Scott.T]

Someone cleared them to use that stretch. They didn't just rock up with a car and a gopro.
Top Gear gets the blame but in today's H&S world I am sure it took many many rounds of talks to clear that through.

Every piece of road structure would of also been valued for insurance purposes and would most definitely of included monuments.

[thepieman]

Originally Posted by Scott.T

Someone cleared them to use that stretch. They didn't just rock up with a car and a gopro.
Top Gear gets the blame but in today's H&S world I am sure it took many many rounds of talks to clear that through.

Every piece of road structure would of also been valued for insurance purposes and would most definitely of included monuments.

It's people blowing stuff out of proportion and blaming the easiest target....no damage done and honestly! Does anyone really think it was done as a mark of disrespect!!

Evans has apologised anyway. evans apology click pic for video

[tbtstt]

Have to say I'm pretty annoyed by the whole thing: I demand that they tell people about this sort of thing in advance so we can all go and watch!

(And I fully agree with Scott: none of the filming would have been done without permission!)

[Pirate1066]

As a veteran I think there a bunch of twats,as a petrol head it's just sad,auntie BBC just give up .

[Banstead Stig]

I don't get the problem to be perfectly honest.

If anyone genuinely thinks that anyone involved in that disrespected those who have served in the forces then I'd love to hear the reasons, because I just don't understand how that can be the conclusion of what happened.

[Hongkongfooi]

Originally Posted by Pirate1066

As a veteran I think there a bunch of twats,as a petrol head it's just sad,auntie BBC just give up .

Seems stupid them choosing a location thats so close to a national memorial...bound to have caused offence. Could have been so easily avoided. Surely they dont need the publicity that much?

[munk]

superb!! this is what i like to here... back to the good old top gear days by the sounds of things. lets hope it makes for some pucker viewing!! cant please everyone all of the time.

[tbtstt]

I can't find the link now, but one of the articles I read on Facebook had some "wide" shots of the street. Block's car was a lot further from the cenotaph than the initial photo would have you believe.

Oh, and none of these guys seem to be offended...

[scotty]

Thats because they are to young to understand the importance of the war memorial that myself and other veterans do on another note looked epic hope ken block video it as not seen it yet .

[Banstead Stig]

Originally Posted by scotty

Thats because they are to young to understand the importance of the war memorial that myself and other veterans do on another note looked epic hope ken block video it as not seen it yet .

I'm not sure age has anything to do with it.

I also think people understand the importance of war memorials other than those who served. I appreciate there are other points of significance for those who have served, don't misunderstand me, but war memorials are there for everyone.

I don't think the beeb will air the footage... sure it'll get on the web though!

[tbtstt]

Official statement from Ken Block...

Originally Posted by Ken Block Facebook Page

Explanation FOR THE FANS: the British tabloid media decided to try to make Top Gear, host Matt LeBlanc and myself look bad this week by exaggerating a story about us doing some slides and donuts near a war memorial in London. That is unfortunate and I want my fans to know that I have complete and total respect for veterans (my Dad was a veteran) and would never do anything to deliberately disrespect them in any way whatsoever - so I was quite disappointed that some of the media was (and still is!) misinforming the public about what we were doing.

For those of you that don’t know what happened: we did our slides/donuts down the street (closest drift tire mark was 180 feet (60 meters) away) from a war monument (the Cenotaph) in central London. The press ran long-lens photos that compress the distance and makes it look like we are much closer - and then they said that we “disrespected” the memorial. I drove past the memorial several times (it’s in the middle of a two lane road, London traffic goes past it 24 hours a day, every day of the year), but I did not do anything on or around it. We were respectful, and the production crew instructed me to be the appropriate distance away - which I adhered to.

This whole tabloid negativity came as a complete surprise to me as BBC are the ones who invited me over, worked for months applying for all of the proper permits to do the driving/filming, got it all approved by the proper councils of government as well, and directed my actions. We did nothing wrong, yet the British tabloids have made something out of nothing.

Unfortunately, sensationalized headlines garner attention in this day and age. I was in London to work with Top Gear to make awesome automotive television programming and promote the country and city - and we continued to do that and make an awesome piece, despite the paparazzi and false reporting.

Anyway… the entire shoot went amazing, Matt LeBlanc and I had a great time making an amazing/funny piece and it will be broadcast in a few months. And, it will not feature the war memorial because it never was intended to be featured in the first place!

...if we don't get to see the feature because of some gutter journalism I'm going to be very disappointed!