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Top Gear Gaffes

Top Gear is under fire, yet again, by the BBC after Jeremy Clarkson – its outspoken lead presenter – made jokes about lorry drivers murdering prostitutes. "Change gear, change gear, check mirror, murder a prostitute, change gear, change gear, murder. That's a lot of effort in a day," he said. The team were attempting a number of their usual high-jinks challenges, only this time in articulated lorries. Though Clarkson, May and Hammond scoffed at the idea initially, when they finally got into their trucks they realised just how much hard work was involved. After puffing his way through a series of gear changes, Clarkson admitted it was very hard working driving a lorry. Clarkson’s quip has generated 188 complaints. In a statement, the BBC said, “The vast majority of Top Gear viewers have clear expectations of Jeremy Clarkson's long-established and frequently provocative on-screen persona. “This particular reference was used to comically exaggerate and make ridiculous an unfair urban myth about the world of lorry driving, and was not intended to cause offence.” Before this recent gaffe, Top Gear befell the anger of the BBC Trust after Jeremy Clarkson and James May were seen drinking while driving, during their attempt to reach the Magnetic North Pole last year. Still, where would Top Gear be without its gaffes. Here are as many Top Gear gaffes as we could find to do with the programme and the individual presenters. Enjoy.

>>Clarkson calls car 'gay'

Jeremy falls foul of TV regulators for describing a car as "gay". He asked a member of the audience if he would buy a two-seater Daihatsu Copen. The man said, "No, it's a bit gay", to which Clarkson added "A bit gay, yes, very ginger beer" - rhyming slang for "queer". Ofcom received five complaints that the expressions used by Clarkson were offensive to homosexual people; some viewers separately complained to the BBC's editorial complaints unit about the incident. Both Ofcom and the BBC ECU agreed that Clarkson's use of the word "gay" was offensive.

>>Jeremy money howler

Jeremy eats his words after tempting readers of his newspaper column to try and access his bank account. He revealed his account numbers in his newspaper column after dismissing the furore over the loss of 25 million people's personal details on two computer discs as 'a fuss about nothing'. But he was forced to admit he was wrong after a reader used the details to open a £500 direct debit to a charity. "I was wrong and I have been punished for my mistake."

>>Police probe Clarkson phone photo

Police examine a photo that allegedly shows the Top Gear host talking on a mobile phone while driving on a motorway. A photograph was sent to the Daily Mirror newspaper, who handed it to the police. After being shown the picture, the paper said he told the reporter he could not talk to them because he wrote a column for another paper.

>>Clarkson quizzed over gang ordeal

Jeremy Clarkson is interviewed by police after he was accused of being abusive towards a teenager who was harassing him He explains in his Sunday Times column how he was pestered by youths outside Xscape sports centre in Milton Keynes. The gang then follows him as he walks away so he lifts one up by his top. Thames Valley Police said: "Mobile phone images were viewed, as well as CCTV footage, and if any offence had occurred it was the man who was the victim."

>>Top Gear rapped for alcohol use

Top Gear's Polar Special edition features Jeremy Clarkson and James May drinking while driving as they try to reach the Magnetic North Pole. The BBC Trust said the scene "was not editorially justified in the context of a family show pre-watershed". In the same show complaints are made about scenes showing frostbitten genitalia. However this time the trust says there was "a clear editorial purpose for the inclusion of an image of a frostbitten penis, which had been shown for "a medical rather than a sexual purpose". Yes, right. Page 2. That's right, page 2!

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