Show's producer tries to quell protest, saying Jeremy Clarkson and James May had permission to park cars in disabled bays

Top Gear has been criticised for stereotyping Mexicans, ridiculing Germans and promoting irresponsible driving. But the show's executive producer, Andy Wilman, has moved quickly to stem the latest controversy to emerge from the BBC2 show after presenters Jeremy Clarkson and James May were filmed parking their electric cars in a disabled parking bay.

Wilman apologised for the incident, saying the production team had been given permission by the car park's owners.

During show broadcast on Sunday, Clarkson and May were shown pulling into a car park and using parking spaces labelled for disabled users.

A disabled motorists' charity claimed Clarkson and May "didn't have a passing care that a disabled person might have needed those spaces", according to a report in the Daily Telegraph. A total of 18 people have complained to the BBC about the issue.

Wilman said both presenters were concerned about using the disabled bays and only relented when told the owner of the car park had approved their use.

"Both presenters expressed deep concern to the film crew and I about using the disabled bays prior to filming, because of the disrespectful impression it would convey," said Wilman.

"They only capitulated when we assured them the parking had been approved by the owner, and that the disabled bay markings would not appear on television.

"This was our fault, not theirs, and we unreservedly apologise to all the viewers we have upset as a consequence."

Wilman added: "We did have permission from the owner of the premises to park in the disabled bays, which gave us a quiet spot to film in, and there were three other disabled bays available which remained empty throughout."

In a blog on the Top Gear website, Wilman said that, "much of the anger has been aimed at Jeremy and James. I'd like to put the record straight here".

Wilman also rejected criticism about the same show's treatment of the Nissan Leaf electric car, which May was shown pushing after it ran out of battery power. Andy Palmer, Nissan's executive vice-president, said the episode was misleading, reported the Times.

Wilman said he "would like to put a few facts straight regarding the story in today's Times" about Nissan.

"We were fully aware that Nissan could monitor the state of the battery charge and distance travelled via onboard software. The reporter in the Times seems to suggest this device caught us out, but we knew about it all the time, as Nissan will confirm. We weren't bothered about it because we had nothing to hide."

He added: "We never at any point in the film said that were testing the range claims of the vehicles, nor did we say that the vehicles wouldn't achieve their claimed range.

"We also never said at any time that we were hoping to get to our destination on one charge. We never said what the length of the journey was, where we had started from, or how long we had been driving for at the start of the film, so again, no inference about the range can be gleaned from our film."

"We absolutely refute that we were misleading viewers over the charge/range, and we stand by the consumer points raised in the film."

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