Top Gear Under Fire After Recent Episode Angers Viewers
Last weekend saw Top Gear’s third episode of the series, but while most fans have been enjoying the continuation of the BBC car show with presenters Paddy McGuiness, Freddie Flintoff, and Chris Harris at the helm, some have lashed out at the show for wasting fuel.
The episode saw them take on challenges as they each came to terms with driving an HGV and the responsibilities they are entrusted with:
“Tonight [is] a very exciting show for me because I get to fulfil a proper bucket list ambition of mine.
“Tonight is the night I become a proper trucker, we are kicking off by talking about HGV’s!” McGuiness told the audience as the show began.
“As you may have heard” Flintoff continued, “Britain is in the grip of an HGV crisis, with not enough drivers to get the stuff we need to the places it needs to go.”
Harris then took over:
“What does it take to be an HGV driver?
“We decided to do some trucking research and find out.”
They began the episode with some precision driving as well as a traditional drag race, but fans were quick to question this with the current fuel crisis spreading across the nation at the moment. Unleaded E10 fuel is currently priced at an average of 187.51 pence per litre. On top of this, the country is seeing a shortage of truckers thanks to the pandemic causing a shortage of HGV driver tests.
Freddie told Express.co.uk the following:
“You feel you got responsibility for everyone else on the road because they can do so much damage.
“I felt worse on the road than on the track I’m not saying I was good on the track, but you’re so wise on the roads it’s bizarre because it’s so big.”
Britain currently has a shortage of an estimate 100,000 heavy goods drivers, and fans were keen to point out their remarks in regards to this.
One said:
“@BBC_TopGear #TopGear a pointless waste of fuel and of little relevance or benefit to the majority of drivers.”
Another added: “Nice contribution to the current shortage of qualified HGV drivers and more so the shortage of examiners. #TopGear waste three potential places for the sake of pandering to their egos #bbc @BBC_TopGear.” (sic)
A third ased: “Dear @BBC #TopGear… Please don’t try and solve the UK’s trucker shortage by training up Chris Harris, Andrew Flintoff and Paddy McGuinness.
“I can’t see them changing their careers, can you?”
Others did add to the argument that this was their chance to highlight the difficult working conditions that truckers have to deal with:
Other fans praised the episode for highlighting the current crisis:
