Jeremy Clarkson couldn’t resist a dig at London and its mayor Sadiq Khan recently when trying to review a car for his newspaper column.
The former Top Gear star admitted he was unable to effectively review a new Suzuki Swift due to the fact 20mph speed limits had been implemented everywhere he went.
As a result, the incessant beeping and blinking from the car’s dashboard proved too much of an annoyance for Clarkson to ignore.
The 20mph speed restrictions on local communities have been rolled out rapidly over the past few years, with Transport for London (TfL) implementing the measure on approximately 87 miles worth of road in the capital.
TfL have insisted this makes Khan’s roads “safer for everyone”, but Clarkson has claimed it’s “not actually possible to maintain 20mph” when it’s rolled out as a “catch-all weapon”.
The Grand Tour host explained that “as soon as you get to any kind of downhill slope you’ll be doing 25 or 30”.
He penned in The Times: “And the only way to stop this from happening is to stare, constantly, at your speedo. Which means you are not looking where you are going.”
Unleashing his verdict on the blanket rolling out of the speed restrictions, Clarkson first took aim at the Welsh government.
“As you may have heard, the socialists in Wales imposed a blanket 20mph speed limit on all residential streets recently. And then, after half a million people — which is almost everyone — signed a petition, the politburo backed down, saying limits would be up to local authorities,” he remarked.
Taking a thinly-veiled dig at Khan, Clarkson continued: “In London, which is even more socialist, I know people who’ve lost their driving licences after reaching 12 points.
“And the fastest they had been travelling in any of the offences was 27.”
The former Top Gear star went on to muse what can be done to adhere to 20mph restrictions, suggesting there could be some feature in cars that would automatically set a car’s settings to stay on the right side of 20mph.
“Hit a button as you approach a 20 zone and electronics will keep you on the right side of … I was going to say the law, but really it’s just some madcap left-wing plot to make everyone use the bus,” he sarcastically critiqued.
In the end, Clarkson couldn’t quite conjure a perfect solution to ensure 20mph speed limits are met without the incessant badgering from cars’ electronic dashboards.
And this isn’t the first time in recent weeks the 64-year-old has hit headlines for his blistering takes on the future of motoring.
In his final episode of The Grand Tour, titled One for the Road, Clarkson summarised why he decided to end his time as a motoring TV presenter – pointing the finger at the rise of electric vehicles.
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After celebrating the noise emitting from the engine of his Lancia, Clarkson turned to the camera and told viewers: “And all of you lot growing up today with your electric cars, you’re never gonna hear it.
“There are lots of reasons why we’re jacking this show in but for me, one of the main ones is I’m simply not interested in electric cars.
“They are just white goods, they’re washing machines, they’re microwave ovens. You can’t review those, you can’t enjoy them. They are just s***.”
The take on the modern state of motoring sparked a mixed reaction from viewers, with some accusing Clarkson of spreading “utter bulls***” about EVs.
