AN officer who turned up on his bicycle to answer a call about drivers performing noisy stunts at a former football stadium ended up quipping with a television motoring star.

After receiving a call from a concerned member of the public about noise nuisance at the Neasham Road Arena, in Darlington, police sent a police community support officer (PCSO) along to investigate.

However, after pedalling to the stadium, PCSO James Metcalfe, found Jeremy Clarkson, James May and The Stig filming a future episode of Top Gear in the grounds.

PCSO Metcalfe said: “Someone from the Firthmoor area behind the stadium had called in to complain about the noise coming from the grounds.

“When I got there I was expecting to see some kids doing some handbrake turns, pulling “donuts” and causing a bit of a nuisance, but instead it turned out to be Top Gear.

“It was a little unexpected to say the least. I saw James May and The Stig sat in a car, and briefly spoke to Jeremy Clarkson.

“He said to me ‘In London, they issue the police with cars’.”

A spokeswoman for businessmen Graham Scott and Philip Sizer, the owners of the stadium, said the production company had full permission to use the grounds and they had no issues with the activities taking place.

Before filming at the stadium, the petrolhead pair had spent the day at Croft Circuit, near Darlington, driving high-powered Mercedes Benz and BMW supercars.

After the duo joked about The Northern Echo’s free fish and chips offer on social networking site, Twitter, an Echo reporter headed to the site with two free portions to show them the North- East’s takeaway grub is no laughing matter.

Clarkson said: “We were reading the paper and saw the offer, which made us both really chuckle.

“As soon as I saw it, I thought, ‘Now I’m back home’. I was seriously thinking about nipping out and getting some during our break, but you beat us to it and they are absolutely fabulous.”