Top Gear admits staging a traffic jam scene
- Published
Top Gear has admitted deliberately staging a traffic jam scene in the last episode of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ TV series.
Viewers watched presenter James May drive a £5.6m Ferrari California Spider owned by ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 2 host Chris Evans.
One scene saw May forced to reverse on a tight road after being hemmed in by three cars with learner plates.
A ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ spokesperson said the ruse was "a light-hearted take on the perils of driving one of the rarest and most valuable cars on the road."
"It is not a documentary," they added.
The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ said the following scene shown on Sunday's episode, where a group of schoolchildren ran towards the car was real.
Ofcom said it had not received any complaints about the episode.
The motoring show is one of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's biggest selling programme brands around the world, regularly pulling in a UK audience of eight million viewers.
It is not the first time the show has been accused of mocking up scenes.
In 2009, Top Gear bosses admitted setting up a stunt involving a caravan attached to an airship straying over Norwich airport, provoking police to intervene.
At the time, a ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ spokesperson said: "As an entertainment programme, Top Gear prides itself on making silly films that don't pretend to represent real life.
"Any suggestion it deliberately misled viewers is patently ludicrous."