28 February 2012 Last updated at 12:01

Top Gear sat nav deal was wrong

Jeremy Clarkson provided the voiceover

BBC Worldwide did not follow proper protocol when it reached an advanced stage of production on a Top Gear branded sat nav, says the BBC Trust.

And it failed to adhere to the BBC Editorial Policy Conflicts of Interest Guidance.

A review by the Trust's Editorial Standards Committee found that Worldwide had gone ahead with a deal with TomTom to produce a portable sat nav featuring The Stig and a Jeremy Clarkson voiceover without consulting the BBC Public Service team. This represented a breach of the protocol established in 2007.

The Committee says it was 'concerned that public trust in the BBC could potentially have been undermined' as a result. And it was concerned too about the 'apparent lack of sensitivity to the potential of the deal to undermine the integrity and values of the Top Gear brand'.

'Confusion'

It pointed to 'some confusion' at Worldwide about the nature of the 'commercial boundaries' for Top Gear branded products.

And it highlighted the fact that BBC Worldwide had 'not considered whether a Top Gear branded satellite navigation system would place any editorial limitations or restrictions on the Top Gear programme or magazine when it came to reviewing this category of information'.

The commercial deal was halted by the director general just before the first products reached the shops. This was after BBC Public Service and Editorial Policy were alerted to it at the start of September 2011 and identified conflict of interest issues.

As production was at an advanced stage, it was decided to let those products already created to be sold in Halfords, with the profits going to Children in Need.