Hit the road: ‘Top Gear’ crew flees Argentina after number plate gaffe

A crew from the popular BBC television programme “Top Gear” has left an Argentine province after being denied permission to film by local authorities who said one of its cars had a number plate alluding to the Falklands War between Britain and the South American country. Local officials said the Porsche had the license plate “H982 FKL,” which they felt was a reference to the 1982 war between the countries over the Falklands Islands. Argentina, which lost the war, still claims the island group it calls Las Malvinas.

It was an outright provocation. Their license plate had the number 982, an allusion to the war (1982) and the letters FLK for the Falklands. It was a mockery to us all.

Cesar Gonzalez, the head of the Falklands’ veteran centre in Rio Grande, the capital of Tierra del Fuego in Patagonia, in southern Argentina

The crew were in South America filming an episode on the remote Patagonian highway between Chile and Argentina. A group of former Argentine combatants in the war held a protest in front of the hotel where Clarkson and the BBC crew were staying. Presenter Jeremy Clarkson was among those who were forced to abandon their vehicles after an angry crowd gathered and began throwing stones. The BBC confirmed its team had left, but denied the registration plate was intended as a deliberate provocation.

I’ve been to Iraq and Afghanistan, but this was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever been involved in. There were hundreds of them. They were hurling rocks and bricks at our cars. This is not just some kind of jolly Top Gear jape - this was deadly serious.

Jeremy Clarkson, Top Gear presenter

Entertainment Top Gear