The Road Haulage Association (RHA) is in uproar over last night's Top Gear, and has written to the director general of the BBC on the behalf of drivers to complain about the programme. It reckons driving a lorry through a brick wall 'trivialises the essential role of the goods vehicle in fuelling the basic needs of the UK economy'. It is also pissed off about the prostitute reference, and reckons 'half-a-million lorry drivers take great exception at such type casting'. Having read the TrucknetUK posts I reckon it might have done its maths wrong.
Yes, the prostitute reference was tasteless, and didn't need to be said twice, but on the whole I thought the show was really entertaining. If anything it succeeded in demonstrating to car drivers just how difficult it is to drive a truck.
The Top Gear researchers and producers spent a good few hours on the phone with Truck & Driver prior to buying the trucks. They actually wanted to do the challenge on the road, but were put off when we explained exactly how difficult and time consuming it is to pass your C+E. They also didn't like the idea of getting into O-licences and tachographs. Having seen their driving standards I reckon it's a bloody good job they did stick to off-road!
The thing that annoyed me the most was the fact they ignored all the 'key issues' that I droned on and on about to the researchers - like appalling showers and a lack of secure parking. Then again, driving a truck through a brick wall definitely makes for better TV.
The Top Gear researchers and producers spent a good few hours on the phone with Truck & Driver prior to buying the trucks. They actually wanted to do the challenge on the road, but were put off when we explained exactly how difficult and time consuming it is to pass your C+E. They also didn't like the idea of getting into O-licences and tachographs. Having seen their driving standards I reckon it's a bloody good job they did stick to off-road!
The thing that annoyed me the most was the fact they ignored all the 'key issues' that I droned on and on about to the researchers - like appalling showers and a lack of secure parking. Then again, driving a truck through a brick wall definitely makes for better TV.
I remember a time when Top Gear focussed solely on new, and then performance, cars and didn’t lower its integrity to get to the bottom of today’s issues if it meant driving anything functional, practical or commercial.
In 1977, when it was in its pomp, Noel Edmonds and William Woollard presented a segment that focused on new cars being delivered by wagon and drag.
Needless to say the attention span of the average viewer in them days stretched to 30 minutes, the duration of the original program, and the 90 seconds it took for Joe the Car Transporter Driver to get the brand new Ford Cortina MKIII off the trailer was fully appreciated by everyone.
These days, if nothing controversial is said inside the first five minutes, viewers are channel hopping looking for a programme where you can ring and vote off the ugliest contestant.
By the time Lanky, Scuffy and Scarred Vanity got around to delivering the punchlines about ‘prostitution’ many of the viewers would have been dead to the world, thanks to Sunday lunch or a terrific hangover from Saturday, and would have relied on Sky+. They’ll have probably skipped it as waffle after a truck had been through a wall and relied on the Daily Mail to form their opinion.
It may have lowered itself to commercial but luckily its integrity has been maintained thanks to a last minute furore over Lanky, regardless of what he said.
I really don't understand what all the fuss is about here. Yes, it was a tasteless joke but did Clarkson really "trivialise" the role of driving trucks? Rather the opposite I think, as the piece demonstrated how tough the job really is, both mentally and physically.
Come on RHA et al, we've all got so many better and more worthwhile things to do than jump on the BBC Bashers' Bandwagon.
Andy Harris
Enfield
great program ,made me laugh,pointed out a lot of points about the blind side to other drivers.if the trailer was loaded on hamsters lorry he would have rolled it, i bet he changed his underwear after that
I saw the episode, then I googled it and I was suprised to see all the backlash it caused. It was certainly dark humour, and that's always been a part of entertainment in most societies. It's just satire - and you Brits do the best satire around. You should quit picking at each other about it and remember that cutting edge means that sometimes the edge will cut. Shit happens. It's good comedy, and I really enjoyed the episode.