The mother of a four-year-old girl whose stolen egg stand struck a chord with Jeremy Clarkson has responded to his kind offer to cheer her up.
The Top Gear legend, 66, didn’t mince his words when describing how he would like to punish the ‘gang of yobs’ who cruelly smashed up little Maisie Willis’ wooden stand.
He joked that he was tempted to head down to Holbury, Southampton, track down the teenage lads responsible and ‘feed them into a ham slicer’ for upsetting the young entrepreneur.
Maisie had been selling the eggs hatched by the chickens in her back garden to her neighbours and set up a stall on the driveway of her family home in the UK village.
But she was left devastated when her adorable egg stand was stolen while she was celebrating her birthday at the rear of her property.
Four-year-old Maisie’s egg stand was stolen and smashed up by two teenage lads (Solent News)
According to Maisie’s mum, Chelsea, their loved ones had been gathered in the back garden for an intimate bash when two teenage boys swiped the stand.
The youths then proceeded to smash the wooden frame up, while even launching the little girl’s egg supply across the road.
Maisie’s parents managed to track the teens responsible down, who then ‘came and apologised half-heartedly’ to the little girl, who was left in tears.
After the story hit the headlines, The Grand Tour star Clarkson got wind of it and decided to give the young men a piece of his mind via his weekly column for The Times.
Explaining he was overcome ‘with rage and sadness’ on behalf of the little girl, the TV star joked that he wanted to ‘mangle the yobs’ who trashed Maisie’s budding egg business.
Chelsea spotted Clarkson’s comments and thanked him for his support in a post on X on Saturday (2 May), which read: “Big shout out to @JeremyClarkson for taking the time to write about our daughter.
“She loves watching @ClarksonsFarm1 and can’t wait for the next series!”
Clarkson kindly invited the little girl down to his farm to cheer her up (Prime Video)
The following day, Clarkson responded to her post and kindly invited Maisie down to his farm.
“I would love to host her at the farm one day,” he wrote. “She could come and meet all our animals and Lisa could show her round our little shop.”
Chelsea has since issued another response to Clarkson, saying that the four-year-old would love to take him up on his offer.
She wrote in a post that was shared on Sunday (3 May): “Omg that would be amazing! We were actually discussing yesterday about coming up to the shop! Please feel free to message us.”
The mum then explained that she had ‘sent Clarkson a message’ in a follow-up post shared on Monday (4 May) – so, it seems like we should all stay tuned for an update.
Maisie has since been gifted a new egg stand by supermarket chain Aldi (Aldi/Solent News)
Maisie’s dad, Tony, said that his young daughter has been overwhelmed by the kindness she has received in the wake of the egg stand incident, as her neighbours have been delivering ‘extra little gifts’ to her to lift her spirits.
On top of the community rallying around her, Aldi incredibly replaced Maisie’s egg stand.
The budget supermarket chain sent her a replacement shop front so she can continue supplying locals with eggs.
“When we heard 4-year-old entrepreneur Maisie’s egg stall was stolen whilst she celebrated her birthday, we knew we had to help,” Aldi wrote in a social media post. “As luck would have it, we’ve got just the thing!
“Now Maisie has her own brand new eggstra special wooden shop front that she can sell her eggs from. We’re sure she’ll have her very own middle aisle in no time!”