Jeremy Clarkson claims he was barred from flight by ‘ignorant’ airport worker in row over Falklands

The Grand Tour presenter says he was deliberately blocked from boarding the plane in Stuttgart 
'Barred': Jeremy Clarkson claims he was deliberately barred from boarding a flight
Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire
Jennifer Ruby16 November 2016
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Jeremy Clarkson has claimed that he was deliberately barred from boarding a flight home by an ‘ignorant’ airport worker.

The Grand Tour presenter said that he and his team weren’t allowed to get on a BA flight from Stuttgart to Heathrow this week over the Top Gear Falklands War row.

Speaking to The Sun, Clarkson claims that they were stopped at the departure gate after getting the call to board from the lounge.

“Our security guys turned round and said, ‘They’re not letting us on,’” he said.

The Grand Tour- first look

1/5

He went on to allege that Manuel Pereira, who was working on the gate, purposefully denied them access to the plane, saying that he was from Argentina.

“I said to this little bald guy, ‘What’s the problem?’ He had a big smile on his face. He said, ‘You’ve missed it.’ We said we had left the lounge when we were told, and he said, ‘I’m from Argentina so f*** you.’

“Richard Hammond and our producer also heard him. It was disgraceful.”

Speaking to The Sun, Mr Pereira said that he is in fact Spanish and denied swearing, adding: "I would never say such a thing. I wasn't rude. I was polite and professional".

Clarkson also claims that the airport official had accused them of being too drunk to board the flight, despite the fact that they’d only had ‘one can of beer’.

He has even called for Mr Pereira’s arrest, saying: “This ignorant little worm made us miss our plane and he will pay for it.”

Clarkson and the Top Gear team were forced to flee Argentina back in 2014 after it was claimed that the number plate on one of their cars, reading H982 FKL, was a reference to the Falklands War.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in