A BBC News reporter shocked viewers by using the N-word uncensored during a Wednesday morning report about racist abuse in Bristol.

In the segment, aired just after 10.30am, Fiona Lamdin said: “Just to warn you, you are about to hear highly offensive language. Because as the man ran away they hurled racial abuse, calling him a n*****.”

The incident she was describing occurred in Bristol last week when two men drove a car into a man before running off and shouting abuse at him.

BBC guidance states “the strongest language” must not be shown before the watershed at 9pm, but the N-word itself is generally deemed too offensive to be aired at any time.

An Ofcom report about public perceptions of such language in 2016 deemed it to be “highly unacceptable at all times”, but said that if it is to be used then “strong contextualisation [is] required”.

In 2007, a Big Brother contestant was kicked off the show for using the word, and BBC News coverage of the eviction used it “sparingly” but only after the watershed.

A clip of the news segment has been retweeted thousands of times on Twitter with hundred of people expressing their shock at the use of the word.

A spokesperson for BBC News told HuffPost UK in a statement: “This was a story about a shocking unprovoked attack on a young Black man.

“His family told the BBC about the racist language used by the attackers and wanted to see the full facts made public. A warning was given before this was reported.

“We are no longer running this version of the report but are continuing to pursue the story.”