On the heels of my post celebrating the wit of Jeremy Clarkson, I must, in the course of full disclosure, post the following about a rather stupid stunt he pulled ot make a point about bank safety...
Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has admitted he was wrong to publish his account number and sort code in a national newspaper after a sum of money was removed from his bank account.
Clarkson published his bank details in an effort to prove that no money could be removed from a bank account using the numbers as a response to what the presenter saw as an overreaction to the missing government data discs scandal.
The acerbic presenter also published details suggesting how his address could be found.
But the move backfired when a mystery reader of his column in The Sun used the details to set up a £500 direct debit to the charity British Diabetic Association, an organisation which does not require a signature to set up a direct debit.
"I was wrong and I have been punished for my mistake," admitted Clarkson, who presents Top Gear on the BBC with Richard Hammond and James May.
The government had previously said that two discs containing personal information for 25m people had been lost in October 2007.
A sheepish Clarkson has subsequently said of the case: "Everyone worked themselves into a right old lather about the mistake but I argued we should all calm down because the details in question are to be found on every cheque we hand out every day to every Tom, Dick and cash and carry.
"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."
Clarkson published his bank details in an effort to prove that no money could be removed from a bank account using the numbers as a response to what the presenter saw as an overreaction to the missing government data discs scandal.
The acerbic presenter also published details suggesting how his address could be found.
But the move backfired when a mystery reader of his column in The Sun used the details to set up a £500 direct debit to the charity British Diabetic Association, an organisation which does not require a signature to set up a direct debit.
"I was wrong and I have been punished for my mistake," admitted Clarkson, who presents Top Gear on the BBC with Richard Hammond and James May.
The government had previously said that two discs containing personal information for 25m people had been lost in October 2007.
A sheepish Clarkson has subsequently said of the case: "Everyone worked themselves into a right old lather about the mistake but I argued we should all calm down because the details in question are to be found on every cheque we hand out every day to every Tom, Dick and cash and carry.
"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."
1 comment:
on debit cards here, your bank account number is actually on your card--it's so odd. oh yeah, and your sort code number is also on the front of the debit card--i'm still baffled.
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