Aug.12 (GMM) Former grand prix driver Martin Brundle has escaped penalty for using an off-beat remark on live British national television on the grid of the Canadian grand prix in June.

While interviewing Bernie Ecclestone prior to the Montreal race, the 49-year-old ITV commentator asked the F1 chief executive what he thought about the "pikeys putting tarmac down at turn 10".

Used mainly in the UK, pikey is a slang term referring to gypsies, and Brundle's comment is thought to have been a humorous reference to door-to-door vagrants who ask householders to do odd jobs.

The watchdog Equality and Human Rights Commission condemned Brundle's use of the word, and a spokesman for the British formula one broadcaster apologised for the gaffe.

It now emerges that, despite the 36 complaints to ITV and Ofcom, the TV watchdog accepted the explanation that Brundle did not intend the use of the word to cause offence.

After missing the recent Hungarian grand prix while on his usual mid-year holiday, Brundle will be back in the F1 paddock at Valencia later this month.