Jeremy Clarkson's 16-year-old farm workers are wearing body cameras after receiving abuse from villagers at his Diddly Squat farm.
Angry residents have been very critical of the "motorhead tourists" who visit his farm in Oxfordshire, with some residents describing the former Top Gear presenter's business as a "menace" to local people.
Today, during a hearing with West Oxfordshire District Council, Clarkson's team have been discussing with the council about getting planning permission for an extension to the car park at his shop. He was also challenging the council's decision to shut down his restaurant on the same plot of land because they claimed he did not have planning permission when it was open in July.
In the hearing today, Annabel Gray, 32, worked on a catering trailer at Clarkson's farm, said that 16-year-old workers were forced to "wear body cameras" as a precaution following "abuse" directed at them by locals.
"Diddly Squat has an important opportunity to educate people about local farming and I find it really frustrating that the council is overlooking that. There are few places about where you can experience where we get food from," she told the hearing.
"Jeremy’s following do not have that great a knowledge about farming – I have had to explain to people that beef burgers come from a cow – and they travel long distances with the hope they might see him, but also to experience farming they have seen on TV.
"They buy something that’s being produced by the local farming community and they are wowed by it and then they go and seek it out in their local communities. This is a massive, massive opportunity for West Oxfordshire District Council. I am begging you that this is something that can be improved on rather than turn your back on."
The farm sits between Chadlington and Chipping Norton and villager Hilary Moore described the farm as "ruining" the area.
"I don’t think the people who come are particularly respectful. They come in their cars with their souped-up engines – they are motorheads, they are not here to support our little farm shop. They idolise this gentleman and they want to show off their cars. We have been disrupted by them in the two-and-a-half years since it’s been open. It’s ruining our area," she said.
"There are farm shops all over the country that they could support instead of all converging here at the weekends."
Elsewhere, Joanna Cecil, who works as a florist on the farm, added in its defence: "People go to the shop because it sells local. This is what Jeremy loves: he invests in the farm, he invests in local people. He is making a success of it for local people, for our children."
Back in August, West Oxfordshire District Council said the "nature, scale and siting" of the restaurant on his farm was "incompatible with its open countryside location" as it was in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
It ordered for the restaurant or anything selling food that will be consumed on the farm to be ceased, and said they should remove the dining tables, chairs, parasols, picnic tables, and mobile toilet.
Clarkson's agents say there is no breach of planning laws, with John Phillips Planning Consultancy (JPPC) insisting there has been no "material change" to the land whilst the council's lawyers argued that the "level of use of the site" had "significantly increased" due to the restaurant, and the land is "now used for a mix of purposes which go well beyond that of a farm shop".
