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.
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A large fire that saw plumes of smoke fill the air in Bardney over the weekend is being treated as arson, police have confirmed today.
Lincolnshire Police were called to reports of a large number of tyres and vehicles on fire in Station Road at about 6.10pm on Sunday, May 15.
The fire service worked through the night to contain the blaze, and fortunately there have been no reported injuries.
Firefighters were at the scene overnight.
A police spokesperson said: “We believe that the fire was started deliberately, and we are currently reviewing evidence in relation to a suspected arson.
“We are currently at the scene, and we are not able to comment on the extent of fire damage until their investigations are concluded.”
At the height of the blaze, Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue had eight engines at the scene, but this has since been scaled down to one.
Emergency repairs to the A16 near Crowland have been completed just over 48 hours after the road had to be closed due to a dramatic lorry fire that melted the surface.
Lincolnshire County Council’s highways department was forced to close the A16 south of Crowland on Friday, following a lorry catching fire the day before on the road.
The temperatures from the blaze were so high the road surface melted, with various materials from the lorry itself welding to the road as a result of the heat.
A before and after of the road. | Photo: Lincolnshire County Council
It happened across both sides of the road, within metres of a busy roundabout, though thankfully no casualties were reported.
The road was closed over the weekend to allow for emergency repair works, and after 48 hours of intense, frantic action, it is now open again thanks to a rapid response.
The ruined road surface was removed and the damaged sides were rebuilt, with an entire new top layer of the A16 laid down, treated and painted in just one weekend.
It means the road was closed for just over 48 hours, as the road reopened to the publicly 10pm on Sunday.
An unbelievably quick turnaround given the severity of the damage caused from the fire. | Photo: Lincolnshire County Council
Councillor Richard Davies, executive member for highways, said: “What a great effort by everyone involved to get this section of damaged road up and running.
“The damage to the road surface was so intense that smaller repairs were out of the question and a full resurface of the road was the only option we had.
“We worked extremely hard to get this road stripped back and rebuilt as quickly as possible and the results can be seen for themselves.
“I want to thank everyone involved in this swift repair and I also want to thank all road users for their patience whilst we carried out the work in a very short timeframe.”
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