TV presenter apologises and says he backs rules on social distancing

Local celebrity James May was seen drinking a pint outside the Cross Keys pub in Black Lion Lane this week, after the new regulations were introduced to contain the spread of coronavirus, the Daily Mail reported.

The star of former popular motoring programme, Top Gear, was filmed talking to other people standing outside, the day after he posted a video on Instagram about working from home in the current COVID-19 crisis.

Government advice is that pubs are allowed to serve takeaways but people must not congregate and when outside their homes people are to observe a 2 metre width as part of social distancing regulations.

According to the newspaper, May, whose latest television programme is James May- Our Man In Japan (Amazon Prime), told them he had been on a six-mile cycle ride to get some exercise when he spotted the lights on in his local pub.

‘There’s no point in wasting good beer and the landlord just wanted to get rid of it,' he said.

'We were not inside the pub drinking, nobody was, I was just standing on the road outside having a pint.’

The incident was witnessed by a passer-by who alerted the police.

The day before the incident, James May posted a video on his Instagram account to his 700,000 followers titled 'Working at Home with James May', which had almost 250,000 views.

In the posting, he said he had been asked to 'dispense' a short video about staying at home adding 'which is something unfortunately we all have to do now.'

He has since posted on his Twitter account to his 3 million followers, showing the image of himself outside the pub, stating; "Apologies for the bad impression. Cycled past at the end of my daily ride. Pub was getting rid of last beer through a hatch, stopped for a quick one, kept social distance from all involved.

‘Pub is not open inside and everyone is actually well apart. . . I support the rules in place.’

May co-presented Top Gear for the BBC alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond from 2003 until 2015. Along with his co-presenters, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and Andy Wilman, they formed an independent television production company W Chump & Sons Ltd in 2015 which has its headquarters at Power Road, Chiswick. They have produced a number of programmes for Amazon.

27th March 2019