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There's no such thing as bad publicity – or so goes the old adage, one which may have crossed the mind of the odd BBC executive as Argentina's ambassador to the UK arrived at the Beeb to make a formal complaint about Jeremy Clarkson.

Mr C is of course no stranger to the odd complaint, but the high-level grumble is unlikely to feature on the next edition of Points of View, as much fun as that would be to witness.

According to the Argentine government, Clarkson's claims that the Top Gear team were hounded out of the South American state are "entirely false accusations".

Danny Cohen, the BBC's director of television, was the man who had to face the anger of Ambassador Alicia Castro on Monday.

An Argentine spokesman made the ambassador's case clear: “Argentine Ambassador to the UK, Alicia Castro, made a formal complaint to the BBC regarding Jeremy Clarkson's provocative behaviour and offensive remarks towards the Government and the Argentine people, following Top Gear's recent filming in Argentina, calling for the BBC to make a public apology.

"Clarkson arrived in Tierra del Fuego, just 400 miles from the Malvinas Islands, flaunting a car with the number plates H982 FKL, evoking the year and the initials of the territory in which the war took place.

“Subsequently, he claimed it was a ‘mere coincidence’ with no intention of provoking a reaction.”

The Argentine authorities do not appear to accept the Top Gear production team's assertion that the number plate debacle was an innocent error.

It seems unlikely, perhaps, that the BBC will apologise as requested by the Argentine Embassy, but with a casual mention in the statement of "ongoing BBC projects" in Argentina, perhaps the BBC’s top brass will lose some sleep over this.

But given the Top Gear team's history of upsetting entire nations (think India and Burma), some of our annual breakdown customers may be wondering why the BBC rubber-stamped the Argentina special in the first place.

On the other hand, it could attract Top Gear's biggest audience yet...