Jeremy Clarkson faces legal claim over alleged car park fall at The Farmer’s Dog

A customer is reportedly seeking compensation after suffering broken ribs and a hand injury following a fall in the car park of Jeremy Clarkson’s Oxfordshire pub. The incident has prompted renewed attention on the practical realities of running high footfall rural hospitality sites where weather and access can quickly become liabilities.

Jeremy Clarkson is reportedly being sued by a woman who says she sustained serious injuries after falling in the car park of The Farmer’s Dog, his pub in Asthall, Oxfordshire. Elizabeth Palmby, 68, alleges she broke ribs and cut her hand after tripping on temporary metal covers which had been placed over muddy ground. She described the covers as “razor sharp” and said the accident left her “struggling to breathe” and in “incredible pain”.

Ms Palmby, an NHS worker from Scunthorpe in North Lincolnshire, told The Standard she had visited Diddly Squat Farm and the nearby pub in November after seeing them featured in the Amazon Prime Video series Clarkson’s Farm.

“I know Jeremy is a perfectionist and the pub itself was perfect and the staff were great, but the carpark was a total disaster,” she said, according to The Standard.

Accident book visit and claim via solicitors

Ms Palmby and her husband returned to The Farmer’s Dog to fill in the accident book and were given a complimentary meal. The couple later revisited the site to see whether any safety measures had been introduced, but claimed nothing had changed. Ms Palmby said she emailed Clarkson about the alleged danger but received no reply. She has since contacted Express Solicitors and begun a legal compensation claim.

The Farmer’s Dog has applied for planning permission to install a permanent hard surface in the car park, which has been approved by West Oxfordshire District Council.

The incident comes as Clarkson has publicly discussed the costs of operating the pub, which he bought in 2024 and reopened last summer after renovation.

Clarkson wrote in The Sunday Times that Tom Kerridge said business rates on his burger restaurant in Marlow would rise from £50,000 a year to £124,000. Clarkson added that at The Farmer’s Dog the rateable value would increase from £27,250 to £55,000. He also wrote that the national insurance rise had increased the pub’s wage bill by £42,000 a year.

Celebrity pubs and the operational reality

The story lands in a wider context of Clarkson’s growing presence in the drinks and hospitality world, with his pub drawing crowds partly through the reach of Clarkson’s Farm and the wider Diddly Squat brand.

As previously reported by the drinks business, the series has offered the wider sector a reminder that hospitality businesses can be undone as quickly by logistics and planning compliance as by the quality of what is poured.

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