The BBC's Top Gear has steered into new controversy after criticism that the crew are filming in Argentina using a car whose number plate appears to refer to the Falklands War.

The programme team are using a Porsche with the registration number H982 FKL, which some people locally have suggested could be seen to refer to the Falklands conflict which took place in 1982.

However show bosses have said the plate was merely a coincidence and was not chosen deliberately.

This year the programme has had a number of difficulties with one edition found to be in breach of Ofcom's broadcasting code for the use of a racially offensive term during a two-part special filmed in Burma, following a complaint from a viewer.

And presenter Jeremy Clarkson apologised after unbroadcast footage emerged in which he appeared to use the n-word, although he denied he actually uttered the word.

The team from the BBC2 show are in South America filming a special on a remote highway passing through Chile and Argentina.

A story about the Top Gear visit in the Patagonian daily newspaper Diario Jornada is headlined: "Top Gear is filming in Patagonia and there's controversy."

The paper says: "Even though the BBC authorities asked the popular presenter Jeremy Clarkson to behave himself during his time in Argentina, he chose to use the provocative number plate 'H982 FKL' on his Porsche, in reference to '1982 Falklands (Malvinas)'."

But the executive producer of Top Gear, Andy Wilman, said: "Top Gear production purchased three cars for a forthcoming programme; to suggest that this car was either chosen for its number plate, or that an alternative number plate was substituted for the original is completely untrue."