Clarkson stung after bank prank

"I was wrong and I have been punished"

8 January 2008 10:50 GMT / By Katie Scott

Topgear presenter, Sun columnist and general all-round big mouth Jeremy Clarkson is currently eating humble-pie after a bank prank backfired and cost him £500 (so far).

Clarkson published his bank details in his tabloid column in a bid to prove that the fuss over the loss of 25 million people's personal details by civil servants in October was a load of rubbish.

However, some enterprising (and anonymous) reader has put Clarkson to shame by setting up a £500 direct debit from his personal bank account to the charity Diabetes UK.

Clarkson published details of his Barclays account, including his account number and sort code. He even told people how to find out his address.

"All you'll be able to do with them is put money into my account. Not take it out. Honestly, I've never known such a palaver about nothing", he told readers.

However, the presenter and writer has now admitted in his column: "I opened my bank statement this morning to find out that someone has set up a direct debit which automatically takes £500 from my account".

"The bank cannot find out who did this because of the Data Protection Act and they cannot stop it from happening again."

"I was wrong and I have been punished for my mistake."

However, he also remains bullish about the government workers who lost the two discs that caused such national furore.

He stated: "Contrary to what I said at the time, we must go after the idiots who lost the discs and stick cocktail sticks in their eyes until they beg for mercy".