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A group of colleagues and fans of James May have revealed what the TV star is really like off camera. 

James is best known for fronting Top Gear alongside co-stars Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond for more than a decade since he joined in 2002.

Some fans who have met the presenter in person shared their experiences in a thread on Reddit. 

One posted: 'Has anyone met any of them in person? How did it go? Good/bad experience?'

Someone who worked as an extra on The Grand Tour set recalled how James had been engrossed in the planes. 

They said: 'I was one of the lucky hundred of extras who filmed the first Grand Tour episode in California!'

The fan met James's co-star, Jeremy, who he described as 'tall' and added: 'He signed the back of my driver's license and told me not to get pulled over. Cheeky dude.'

As for James, they recounted how he 'was more interested in the aviation and planes than the people. To be fair there were an overwhelming amount of us. Seemed fitting though lol'.

Another recalled their meeting with James back in 2012 at a Top Gear event. 

They said: 'In 2012 there were something called Top Gear Live that they toured with and got to meet James May, quite pleasant meet.'

While someone else who claimed: 'Yup. Worked as an advisor on the Vietnam Special.'

They went on to describe Richard and James as 'great fun'. 

Another recounted how they met James in his pub and said: 'Absolutely awesome, just dumb luck he was there at the same time as me.

'He signed a bottle of his gin for me too. Legend.'

One fan recalled meeting both Jeremy and James at a Top Gear Live event and described them as 'incredibly thankful for the support they had received'. 

After an on-set altercation between Jeremy and a producer, the trio exited the Top Gear series and continued working together in 2015 on an Amazon Prime show, The Grand Tour.

Since then, James revealed that he believes the BBC could have dealt with Jeremy's actions - in which he punched producer Oisin Tymon - differently. 

Following the incident, an investigation was launched and Jeremy was to exit the show with co-stars James and Richard refusing to sign new contracts with the BBC, causing the successful era of the show to end.

Earlier this year, James confessed to The Sunday Times: 'I thought it was very unfortunate and I don't actually think our Top Gear had to end because of it. I think it could have been patched up and put down to a bit of high stress and flightiness, to be honest. 

'It happened. It's regrettable and it's unfortunate, but it didn't need to lead to the collapse of something very successful.' 

James added that he believed the trios exit was down to people thinking it was 'time of us to move on'.

Jeremy's actions with Oisin were reportedly due to him returned to his hotel in North Yorkshire after a long day of filming and found there was no available hot food to order. 

James went on to reveal whether he is still in contact with his former co-star after Jeremy revealed he has banned James from his pub, the Farmer’s Dog in Oxfordshire.

James said he wasn't interested in visiting the establishment anyways given it is based 80 miles from his home. 

However, the presenter did reveal he rang Jeremy up after his heart attack and the pair saw each other at a funeral not long ago.  

He said: 'I did actually see him a few weeks ago, at a funeral, unfortunately, of someone we both knew. He seemed all right. We just seem older.'

The famous trio have now ended up in different places with Jeremy being the most successfully on Prime Video’s Clarkson’s Farm, Hammond on his car restoration show Richard Hammond’s Workshop and James in James May and the Dull Men, shown on Discovery+.