Top Gear April Fool's prank shuts Dutch motorway (but Jeremy Clarkson's not to blame)

Top Gear presenters Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson, James May (BBC)

Jeremy Clarkson and his Top Gear colleagues have previously got into trouble for executing outlandish stunts. But despite being blamed by disgruntled motorists for shutting down a Dutch motorway yesterday the programme-makers had nothing to do with the drama.

Dutch police have apologised for the actions of a “single colleague” after an April Fool’s day message appeared on a national police website declaring that a 20 mile section of the 10 lane A2 motorway between the Dutch capital Amsterdam and Utrecht would be closed while the BBC’s Top Gear filmed.

It said the major stretch of motorway would be used by the programme-makers to attempt to set a new world speed record on a public road. The message, which was placed there on Easter Sunday and remained for over an hour before it was removed, is thought to have caused major disruption for those wishing to travel during yesterday’s Bank Holiday.

A Dutch police spokesman said: “It was an action of a single colleague who did not think about the possible consequences.”

The fake message stated that Clarkson and his colleagues Richard Hammond and James May would try to break a world record speed of 286 miles per hour.