Jeremy Clarkson says a police call operator threatened to have him investigated for 'racist' behaviour after he described two men as travellers while reporting them for allegedly acting suspiciously around his farm.
The 61-year-old, who runs 1,000-acre Diddly Squat Farm in Oxfordshire, wrote in his Sunday Times column about a recent run-in with 'a couple of chaps' who appeared on his drive asking for selfies.
He was suspicious about their motives because there had been a 'lot of burglaries' locally, he had just taken delivery of two puppies, and had seen a drone scouting his property just a few hours earlier.
He dialled non-emergency number 101 but 'got bored' and phoned 999, where a female call operator asked him to describe the visitors. When the journalist said they were 'travellers', the woman said if he continued she would 'open a new line of inquiry into racist behaviour', he claimed.
Mr Clarkson - pictured with his girlfriend, Lisa Hogan - runs 1,000-acre Diddly Squat Farm in Oxfordshire
Explaining why he felt suspicious of the men, Mr Clarkson wrote that a neighbour recently found a crashed drone in his garden which contained aerial footage of 'all the large houses in the area', including his.
Continuing the story, he said: 'So I was a bit worried last Wednesday when I looked up to see another drone, hovering over my farmyard.
'And then I was even more worried that night when a couple of chaps came up the drive in a Mk 1 murderer's special Land Rover Discovery. The Kenny Noye edition.'
Mr Clarkson wrote that the men 'asked for a selfie' - which was not unusual because he gets lots of visitors but 'there was something about them I didn't like the look of'.
'There have been a lot of burglaries in the area recently - and I'd just taken delivery of two puppies,' he wrote.
'And there had been that drone scouting the site just a few hours earlier.'
After giving up on 101 because it was taking too long, he said he was put through to a young women who asked to describe the men.
'She seemed to think I was
