May 13, 2011 11.39 am This story is over 169 months old

Top Gear in Lincoln: The conspiracy theories

Staged? Some are skeptic that Top Gear’s electric car breakdown in Lincoln was purely accidental, but more of a publicity stunt.

After Top Gear broke down in the centre of Lincoln on Thursday, conspiracy theories suggest the event may not have been as accidental as it seemed.

Clarkson and May’s regard for electric cars is well-known after they ‘faked’ a scene where the Tesla Roadster, an electric car, had run out of charge during a race and needed to be pushed into a garage. But Tesla said that the car never ran out of electricity and the battery had in fact never dipped below 20% charge.

Legal proceedings followed and Tesla sued the motoring programme for libel and malicious falsehood. However, some believe it’s not a coincidence the Top Gear crew found themselves in a county that has no public electric car charge points.

All Cars Electric speculates the Top Gear presenters are not bored of the same joke — electric cars run out of power and need to be pushed. Some theories are even saying that, like the Tesla incident, it was staged.

Others noted that whilst the cars where charging, there was a looming car recovery truck parked nearby, which according to comments in The Lincolnshire Echo, had been parked near courts, the university accommodation, two hours beforehand.

Green Car Reports also suggests that breaking down in the city centre was a stunt to get maximum publicity for the upcoming series of Top Gear, which starts in June.

In an interview with BBC Lincolnshire while in Lincoln, James May suggested that conspiracy theories over their stop in the city are inaccurate.

James May said: “To be brutally honest our visit to Lincoln is a matter of circumstance. But we are rather glad it happened.”

— Also check out more coverage of Top Gear in Lincoln at VentureBeat and Jalopnik.