ITV apologise over Brundle 'pikey' gaffe.

Martin Brundle's live grid walk on ITV's pre-F1 shows may have become one of the most popular and entertaining elements to the broadcaster's grand prix coverage, but the former McLaren and Benetton ace has dropped himself in hot water after referring to track workers as 'pikeys' in the build-up to the race in Montreal at the weekend.

With fears over the durability of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve's surface - and drivers having variously described it as 'a joke' and 'a nightmare' during qualifying - Brundle said to the sport's chief executive Bernie Ecclestone prior to the off that: "There are some pikeys there at turn ten putting tarmac down - what do you think of that?"

That remark has now been slated by racial equality watchdog the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

A spokesman is quoted by the Daily Telegraph as having said: "This word has been used on television in the past and is highly derogatory. They have caused much offence in the past."

An ITV spokesman has since issued an apology for Brundle's remark, adding that it was too soon to say if any complaints had been registered about it.

'Pikey' is as a slang term traditionally used to refer to gypsies or travellers, but has now been coined as a general term for anyone living with no fixed abode.

According to the Telegraph, last December a Sussex gardener is believed to have made legal history when he was convicted of racially aggravated harassment for using the word.

Lee Coleman also repeatedly uttered 'pikey' during a drunken outburst over a nightclub entrance fee - for which he received a twelve-month community order and 200 hours of unpaid work - whilst celebrity chef Marco Pierre-White has also been censured for using the expression 'pikey's picnic' on ITV reality show Hell's Kitchen.