by Joe Jeffrey
BBC under fire as Richard Bacon and election expert flout law and conduct interview inside moving Airstream
BBC flagship current affairs programme, Panorama, has been caught up in a storm of controversy following Monday night’s episode in which a series of interviews were unsafely conducted inside a caravan whilst being towed.
The ‘Who Will Win the Election’ Panorama special saw presenter, Richard Bacon, and renowned US statistician, Nate Silver, embark upon a whistle-stop tour of the UK inside an Airstream caravan, stopping off at various locations to gauge the general public’s opinion on who would be successful in next month’s general election.
During the 30-minute programme, both presenter, Bacon, and statistician, Silver, remained sat in the Airstream as it was towed by a BMW X5 through traffic on busy public highways and even, it seems, hogging the middle lane of a motorway travelling from Lincolnshire to Scotland, despite very little traffic in the slow lane. A camera and sound crew was also on board.
Furthermore, programme makers also failed to ensure towing mirrors were attached to the tow vehicle, despite the fact it is a legal requirement to have mirrors that allow drivers to see clearly an area that is four metres wide from the side of a caravan at a distance of 20 metres behind the driver.
The series of dangerous mistakes highlighted in the programme comes shortly after expert survivalist Ray Mears was lambasted by the National Caravan Council (NCC) following his appearance on the BBC’s primetime show, Room 101, in which he unleashed a scathing attack on the caravanning community just three weeks before being scheduled to speak at the Caravan, Camping & Motorhome Show at Brimingham’s NEC. Mears was subsequently fired by show organisers following his tirade.
CaravanTimes has reached out to Panorama producers for comment, but is yet to receive a response.
What do you think about this latest controversy?
