a judge has ruled the controversial number plate that led to jeremy clarkson and his colleagues harangued out of argentina was a direct reference to the falklands war , a judge has ruled .
while the bbc claimed the plate , which read h982 , was an ` unhappy coincidence ' , maria cristina barrionuevo said they were deliberately ` provoking people ' when they drove it through the country last year .
in a report released earlier this week she slammed their actions as ` arrogant and disrespectful ' .
afterwards producers removed the plate and replaced it with another .