h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7174760.stm

Serve him right!

, how can anybody be that stupid?

Love it.

I remember reading the column he did that in (no, I didn't buy that rag, it was lying around the pub) and thinking 'ahh, that's going to come back and bite you, me lad'. And I was right.

Tch. What a bloody idiot. Wish I'd spotted it quickly enough to make some swift purchases. This: http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/my-sky/index.html would be very useful, and this: http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/paintball-panzer/index.html just for the hell of it!

Is that an actual photo? He looks far too big for the tank. Maybe he's just got an enormous head.

Actually I think that's a helmet, not part of his head.

Clarkson proves once again that he's one of the nation's leading pillocks. More power to his elbow

Brilliant, thanks for cheering me up Rich

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What a stupid thing to do! I'm so glad it went to charity though!

But the bank will have to pay the money, won't they, as they had no authority from him to give it out. Certainly they would have to pay if it was Ireland.

Hmmm, why does "ID card" come to mind?

what a man

>>But the bank will have to pay the money, won't they, as they had no authority from him to give it out. Certainly they would have to pay if it was Ireland.<<

I'm not too surre about that, Gnomon. Here, if you lose your credit/debit card or it gets stolen, the bank doesn't have to pay. And that's nothing anybody does do deliberately. But this man published all his details, so I don't imagine the bank will have to pay for his loss.

While I'm very happy that a charity for diabetics is getting some money from Jezza, I can't help feeling that I would have got a whole lot more schadenfreude from the situation if it had been a charity for one of the many, many groups of people that he rails against, which, let's face it, is just about everyone in the world. Something like PETA, The Vegan Society, ASH, Alcoholics Anonymous, or maybe The National Society for the Care of Elderly Morris Minor Drivers.

This made me laugh out loud yesterday

What a twonk!

I remember several years ago when Michael Winner had a column in the News of the World, he printed a picture of one of his blank cheques in the column, to prove to a previous doubter that he had an account with Coutts & Co Bank. Having previously worked in a bank and knowing about these things, I wrote and told him that he'd displayed remarkable stupidity by showing his account number, name of account, bank and branch to several million readers. The following week he announced that he'd changed his account so no-one else could set up standing orders in his name (apparently around 50 had tried to)

Gnomon,

I would be very surprised if the bank paid out. He deliberately put himself at risk in a very public way and got what he asked for. I can't see any bank paying up frankly. It is hard enough to get them to pay up when something happens which is not the account holder's fault.

I am amazed that the perpetrator was honest enough to get the money paid to a charity. Was it a journalist I wonder

Websailor

This is entirely the bank's fault, and not the fault of Jeremy Clarkson. The bank is not allowed to give out money out of his account just because someone knows the number. The bank account number is not a secret. He didn't give out his secret Pin number or anything. If he took this to court he would win hands down.

Well, what a twit

Mind you, it should make a lot more people a lot more careful about their bank details, which is a Good Thing.

I agree with Gnomon. If that happened here, I think the bank would be liable, not the customer. They should have ensured that the person setting up the direct debit was indeed the account customer.