Top Gear

Top Gear Under Fire After Freddie Flintoff Spotted Driving Illegal Car For Filming

Top Gear has been and gone, but with fans singing their praises of the short but well-paced series, it’s no surprise that people are going back for a second look.

In an episode where Chris Harris, Freddie Flintoff, and Paddy McGuinness drove cars that were once owned by their fathers, the ex-cricketer drove a Ford Cortina 1.6GL. On closer inspection from viewers, they realised a respray had been undertaken, but with the car featuring a bright red paint job, the DVLA records were yet to be updated.

According to the DVLA the car was still registered as being white, and under UK law, this deems the car to be illegal to drive on the public road with the red paint job. It’s required that as soon as the car undergoes a colour change, the DVLA is updated so, for example, the police can identify the car faster.

Top Gear released a statement on the matter:

“The Cortina used for three days of controlled filming last October fully met the obligations required by law for use on Public Highways and has been warehoused ever since.

“However, notifying the DVLA of a respray to the vehicle via our third party leasing company should have happened quicker and we are grateful to the conscientious viewer for pointing this out to us.”

A spokesperson from the DVLA said the following to The Sun:

“The police would be responsible for enforcing the offence of failing to notify a change of colour for the vehicle.”

Alex Harrington

Alex started racing at a young age so certainly knows his way around a car and a track. He can just about put a sentence together too, which helps. He has a great interest in the latest models, but would throw all of his money at a rusty old French classic and a 300ZX. Contact: alex@grandtournation.com

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3 Comments

  1. Winkers indeed. Some people live sad lives 🙄. Also kind of sad that even something as small as this is illegal. There’s literally no end to hyper-regulation, it is a system which perpetuates itself. What was that thing someone said, something like “Judge a man not by the colour of his car, but by the content of his character”?

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