May faced prosecution brought by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency rather than the police, which is how DVLA enforcement works: the agency pursues registered keepers directly for offences under the Road Traffic Act relating to registration, taxation and insurance compliance, without requiring a police stop or charge. The specific allegation was that on 17 July 2025, May kept a vehicle, the orange GT750, which did not meet the requirements of the Road Traffic Act 1988 regarding insurance. Prosecutors told reporters the case concluded through an out-of-court settlement before May appeared before magistrates. The terms were not disclosed. The DVLA was contacted for further comment and had not responded at time of publication.
May did not speak to press at court. He is 63 years old, lives in west London, and was wearing an orange shirt. Whether this was deliberate coordination with the bike is unknown but seems plausible.
What the Kettle actually is
The Suzuki GT750 is one of the genuinely significant motorcycles of the 1970s, and May's ownership of one is exactly the kind of vehicle choice you would expect from someone who spent 12 years on Top Gear advocating for mechanical objects that reward understanding rather than just ownership.
Marketed as the Le Mans in the US and Canada, the GT750 was nicknamed the Kettle in Britain, the Water Bottle in Australia, and the Water Buffalo in the United States. It was heavy at 249 kg wet, powered by a 739 cc two-stroke three-cylinder engine. The nickname in every market was a reference to the same thing: the GT750 was the first Japanese motorbike to employ a liquid cooling system for the engine rather than the traditional air-cooled setup. The radiator dominated the front end. Americans called it a Buffalo because of its bulk. Britons called it a Kettle because of what liquid cooling implied. Barry Sheene, not a man known for mild opinions about machinery, appeared in Heron Suzuki advertising calling it fantastic.
The GT750 ran from 1972 to 1977 before emission regulations and the arrival of the GS750 four-stroke made it commercially redundant. In that time it earned a reputation as a comfortable, smooth, slightly odd touring machine that was not the superbike its displacement suggested but was genuinely good at what it actually did. It can clock up big miles if looked after, which is exactly the kind of quality that attracts owners who intend to ride their classics rather than display them.
May's GT750 is orange, which was a factory colour option. His orange shirt on Thursday suggests he either planned the coordination in advance or has internalised the bike's palette to the point of unconscious expression. Both explanations are equally plausible for someone who once drove an amphibious car across the English Channel and considered it a reasonable afternoon.
Like this? Get the app: iOS | Android
The insurance question
The charge of keeping an uninsured vehicle is one of the more common DVLA enforcement actions in the UK. A registered keeper is legally responsible for ensuring any vehicle on their name is either properly insured and taxed, or declared off-road via a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN). The automated system that identifies potential offenders cross-references registration records with Motor Insurers' Bureau data. If a vehicle appears on the register without a corresponding insurance policy and without a SORN, enforcement follows.
Classic motorcycle insurance can be administratively complicated. Agreed value policies, limited mileage policies and specialist classic cover through providers like Footman James or Bikesure operate differently from standard motor insurance, and gaps in renewal, administrative errors, or a vehicle temporarily sitting in a garage without active cover can generate DVLA enforcement notices even where no deliberate uninsured driving has occurred. The fact that May settled the matter before trial does not indicate guilt and does not indicate innocence. It indicates both parties reached a resolution they preferred to a courtroom outcome.
What it does indicate is that the orange Kettle, which has been sitting somewhere in west London for the past fifty years gathering the kind of patina that May has always argued is evidence of a life rather than evidence of neglect, generated enough of an administrative paper trail to bring its famous owner to Lavender Hill Magistrates' Court in a matching shirt.
He rode away on a different bike. Presumably one with current insurance.
Sources: LBC, 27 March 2026 | GB News, 27 March 2026 | National World, 27 March 2026 | PA Wire court reporters | Wikipedia / Suzuki GT750 | Old Bike Barn / GT750 history | MotoGold UK / GT750 model history