TripAdvisor SUSPENDS reviews for Barnard Castle after page floods with spoof Dominic Cummings posts
‘I came to test my eyesight and it was well worth the 260 mile trip’: TripAdvisor SUSPENDS reviews for Barnard Castle after page is flooded with spoof Dominic Cummings posts as internet pokes fun at lockdown visit
- Dominic Cummings says he drove to Barnard Castle in April to test his eyesight
- Jokers took to TripAdvisor, saying the market town was ‘better than Specsavers’
- After flooding the page with spoof posts, TripAdvisor has had to stop reviews
Published: 05:06 EDT, 27 May 2020 | Updated: 05:15 EDT, 27 May 2020
TripAdvisor has suspended all reviews for Barnard Castle after its page was flooded with spoof recommendations mocking Dominic Cummings claim he drove to the town to test his eyesight.
Boris Johnson‘s chief adviser told journalists on Monday how he made a 60-mile round trip from his parents farm in Durham to the market town, to see if he was ready for a 260-mile trip back to London.
The claim has catapulted the town into the limelight, with spoof reviews flooding in on TripAdvisor, while other memes have compared the drive to a trip to Specsavers.
One ‘reviewer’ wrote: ‘Such a lovely place to go, can’t believe I saw Dominic Cummings there!’ Another said the market town was ‘Better than Specsavers’.
Calling themselves ‘bid Dominic C’ another reviewer joked ‘Think I got away with it,’ while another reviewer said the market town was a ‘great place for a test drive’.
After being inundated with fake reviews, the holiday review site added this message to Barnard Castle’s page: ‘Due to a recent event that has attracted media attention and has caused an influx of review submissions that do not describe a first-hand experience, we have temporarily suspended publishing new reviews for this listing.
‘If you’ve had a firsthand experience at this property, please check back soon – we’re looking forward to receiving your review!’
All of the fake reviews appear to have been removed from the website, the with last review now dating back to March – a month before Mr Cummings’ test drive.
Mr Cummings told journalists his family did not visit the the actual castle during the trip to the market town, but did walk to the river bank after he felt ‘a bit sick’
Speaking to journalists on Monday, Mr Cummings explained: ‘On Sunday, April 12, 15 days after I had first displayed symptoms, I decided to return to work.
‘My wife was very worried, particularly given my eyesight seemed to have been affected by the disease.
‘She didn’t want to risk a nearly 300-mile drive with our child, given how ill I had been.
‘We agreed that we should go for a short drive to see if I could drive safely.
‘We drove for roughly half an hour and ended up on the outskirts of Barnard Castle town. We did not visit the castle.
‘We did not walk around the town. We parked by a river. My wife and I discussed the situation.
‘We agreed that I could drive safely, and we should turn around and go home.
‘I felt a bit sick. We walked about 10 to 15 metres from the car to the river bank nearby.’
Since Mr Cummings press briefing Twitter users have compared his journey to a trip to Specsavers.
One post read: ‘Should have gone to Barnard Castle’, while several others shared pictures of cars that have driven into the opticians various shopfronts.
Speaking yesterday, Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said that he has previously driven to test his eyesight.
Asked by LBC presenter Nick Ferrari if he would have made the 60-mile round trip he said: ‘I have, on occasions in the past, driven with my wife in order to make sure, what’s the right way of putting it.’
He then added that ‘people who know me would know that I am not an authority on driving’ and said he took seven attempts to pass his driving test.
Section 96 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 states that: ‘If a person drives a motor vehicle on a road while his eyesight is such … that he cannot comply with any requirement as to eyesight … for the purposes of tests of competence to drive, he is guilty of an offence.’
Dominic Cummings, arriving in Downing Street today, told journalists he drove ‘roughly half an hour,’ from his parents home to Barnard Castle in April
Ex-Greater Manchester Police chief constable Sir Peter Fahy said today the PM’s adviser may have broken the Highway Code.
The former cop said the adviser would have been turned back if he was caught going between London and Durham.
Sir Peter said officers were ‘frustrated’ by the Cummings case, adding it may hinder policy with the rules ‘now very confused’.
He told Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘Clearly, number one, that’s ill-advised as a means of testing your eyesight as to whether you’re fit to drive, but again it’s hard to see – unless there’s some justification that that was to take daily exercise – how that was justified.’
Asked if it was a criminal offence, Sir Peter replied: ‘It certainly appears to be against the Highway Code. It’s not the way to test your eyesight, and put potentially other people in danger.’
