Top Gear could be heading for more trouble after communications watchdog Ofcom confirmed it was investigating a complaint over the use of the word “pikey”.

A representative of the Traveller Movement complained after a scene in which the show’s now ex-host Jeremy Clarkson was seen holding a placard with the words ‘Pikey’s Peak’ while Richard Hammond drove a car up a mountain.

Clarkson (Ian West/PA)
Jeremy Clarkson was seen holding a sign with the word ‘pikey’ on it (Ian West/PA)

It comes after a similar complaint was lodged with the BBC but eventually not upheld.

The BBC Trust ruling in March cleared Clarkson of racism and its editorial standards committee (ESC) concluded the word had been used to mean “cheap”, rather than as a term of racist or ethnic abuse.

Speaking at the time, a spokesman for the Traveller Movement said they were “horrified” by the “BBC’s green-lighting of the use of the word”.

(Matt Dunham/AP)
Clarkson had to apologise after using the n-word (Matt Dunham/AP)

It is not the first time the controversial motoring show – and its former presenters – have run into trouble.

Clarkson had to apologise when unscreened footage emerged of him mumbling the n-word while reciting the children’s nursery rhyme “eeny, meeny, miny, moe” to choose between two cars and the show was also censured by Ofcom for breaching broadcasting rules after Clarkson used a “racial” term during the programme’s Burma special.

Jeremy Clarkson with his Top Gear co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond (Ellis O'Brien/BBC Worldwide)
Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond were chased out of Argentina over the controversial numberplates (Ellis O’Brien/BBC Worldwide)

Last year ended with the motoring show’s crew forced to flee Argentina when it emerged they were using a Porsche with the registration number H982 FKL, which some people suggested could refer to the Falklands conflict of 1982.

Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon
Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon (BBC Worldwide/PA)

Since then, Clarkson has left the show when the BBC allowed his contract to run down after an internal investigation found he attacked show producer Oisin Tymon in an unprovoked assault.

His co-stars, Hammond and James May, are believed to have also left the show, along with producer Andy Wilman, and are expected to launch a rival show with another broadcaster.