Top Gear Argentina Incident: Jeremy Clarkson Accused of Breaking the Law

There’s obviously some bad luck chasing Jeremy Clarkson of the famous Top Gear show lately. Long story short, the cast and crew of the famous British television series were busy shooting an episode in Argentina when they found themselves forced to leave the country. The reason? A group of angry locals who claimed Clarkson’s car, a Porsche 928 GT, was wearing an offensive license plate.

Now, new reports say the story goes even deeper. Photographs show that the BBC crew switched the initial plate, that read H982 FKL (one that was associated with the Falklands conflict of 1982), to yet a different plate - H1 VAE. The decision followed claims that the original registration of the grey 1991 Porsche was a reference to the 1982 Falklands War. Problem is, the replacement plate is licensed to another car, a white 2006 Porsche.

Clarkson blames the Argentine authorities

So now, the Top Gear team not only has to deal with the controversy over the Falklands offense, but could even face fines. According to the grey Porsche’s history report, quoted by the Independent, the vehicle changed its registration to H1 VAE for a three-year period before 2001 and then returned to H982 FKL. The fact that the Top Gear team was traveling with the old plate, by now assigned to another vehicle, will add to suspicion that the BBC team realized the original registration was contentious.

Meanwhile, Clarkson claims if there is anybody to blame for the entire scandal, it’s the Argentine authorities. The Top Gear star has recently revealed how they reportedly told Chilean officials to stop the crew to enter the country as they were tring to flee. They eventually got lucky as the Chilean officials refused to succumb to the request and the crew managed to get to the airport and fly back to the UK.

Top Gear keeps pushing the controversy limit

Top Gear wouldn't be the same without its trolling and yet we can't help notice one thing. A few years ago it became obvious that the show could collapse under its own weight. Sure, the stunts and all the tricks were nice, but the audience was always hungry for a new kind of sensational. Here we are today, seeing Clarkson and the crew involved in one scandal after another. As far as we can recall, the scandals have clearly outweighed any other talks on the Top Gear theme this year. And to add to the drama, there seems to be some sort of a public show involving Clarkson and the BBC, as the official keep threatening to fire the presenter - the entire matter has turned into what could very well be a "parent-child fight" soap opera.

The Falklands war

In case you didn’t know, here's a quick reminder. The conflict was a ten-week war between Argentine and the United Kingdom over two British overseas territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and South Georgia, as well as the South Sandwich Islands. In total, 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel and three Falkland Islanders died during the hostilities. The conflict lasted 74 days and ended with the Argentine surrender on 14 June 1982, returning the islands to British control.