Jeremy Clarkson has once again sparked controversy, this time in Argentina with an apparently controversial number plate. 

The Top Gear crew have been making their way from the ski resort of Bariloche in Argentina to the southern port of Ushuaia, on a road trip along the Patagonian highway that would be featured in the news season of Top Gear. 

However, the choice of number plate for the Porsche 928 GT that they were driving has caused plenty of controversy and seems to have been enough to force them to leave the country (moving on to Chile) as it apparently contains a reference to the Falklands war between Argentina and Britain. 

The licence plate reads 'H982 FKL', a reference to the year the conflict began (1982) and the name used to refer to the islands in English (FKL - Falklands). A group of veterans from the conflict decided to demonstrate outside their hotel, having taken offence to the plate, which they viewed as a subtle jibe and a reference to the war. 

Pic via TheSuperCarKids.com

Juan Manuel Romano, secretary of social development for Ushuaia, where the group were staying, in the southern Tierra del Fuego province said: "They have taken the decision to leave". They had intended to originally stay in the Hotel Arakur until Sunday, but have left early in order to avoid any further controversy.

For their part, the people behind the show have come out to deny the claims, with Top Gear executive producer Andy Willman issuing a statement on the incident: “Top Gear production purchased three cars for a forthcoming programme; to suggest this car was either chosen for its number plate, or that an alternative number plate was substituted for the original is completely untrue.”

He also added that a production assistant had been the one who bought the cars, so it appears that Clarkson and the other presenters had nothing to do with the choice of licence plate which has ended up causing so much controversy. 

Either way, it's more unwanted attention for Clarkson, who The Mirror claimed had been told that he needed to behave and may have been on his last warning ahead of the trip to South America. He responded to those claims on Twitter in a fairly foul-mouthed way as they began their trip.

There has been no response from Clarkson on social media to this latest controversy, but it has gotten plenty of attention both at home an in Argentina, with local papers and national dailies such as Clarín picking up on it, while it's also causing a furore on Twitter.

Via The Daily Mail and Autoblog.com.ar