BBC scrapTop Gear TomTom

End of the road for motoring show-inspired gadget...

08:43 14 October 2011

The BBC has been forced to scrap a deal to produce Top Gear Sat Navs, after admitting that they breach its own editorial guidelines.

Around 54,000 of the devices, voiced by the showÂ’s presenter Jeremy Clarkson, have already been produced by Sat Nav manufacturer TomTom. 

A number have also been delivered to shops for sale.

The TomTom Go Live Top Gear edition features Clarkson giving instructions in his typical style, using lines such as:

"Keep left - if you're not sure which side left is you really shouldn't be on the road."

Executives at BBC2 believe that the deal breaches the corporationÂ’s guidelines, which state that presenters "must take particular care not to endorse any product or service which could be covered in the programmes on which they work".

The BBC’s commercial arm, BBC Worldwide has now announced that all proceeds from the sale of the £189 products will be donated to the Children in Need and that no more of the Top Gear branded satnavs would be produced.

A spokesman for BBC Worldwide said:

"In order to avoid any perception of a conflict of interest in the minds of viewers, BBC Worldwide and TomTom have agreed that all monies that would have been due to BBC Worldwide will be paid to BBC Children in Need together with an additional charitable donation by TomTom."

Clarkson had nothing to do with setting up the TomTom deal and will not make any money from the sale of the devices.