BBC News apologises after words ‘Manchester United are rubbish’ appear on screen

BBC News has apologised after the words ‘Manchester United are rubbish’ appeared on its rolling news ticker.

The broadcaster's 24-hour channel usually has the latest stories, but during the morning bulletin some viewers noticed a big mistake.

For a few seconds, the ticker that runs along the bottom of the screen during the bulletin read: 'Manchester United are rubbish' and 'Weather rain everywhere'.

BBC News quickly apologised on air, with the presenter addressing the issue, saying that she hoped no Reds fans were offended.

She said: "Just while we’re on the subject of football, a little earlier, some of you may have noticed something pretty unusual on the ticker, that runs along the bottom of the screen with news, making a comment about Manchester United. 

"I hope that Manchester United fans weren’t offended by it, let me just explain what was happening."

BBC News blamed the error on a trainee, who was "learning to use" the feature.

She continued: "Behind the scenes, someone was training how to use the ticker and how to put text on the ticker.

"They were just writing random things, not in earnest, that comment appeared.

"So apologies if you saw that and you were offended and you are a fan of Manchester United.

"But certainly, that was a mistake and it wasn’t meant to be on the screen, that was what happened. We just thought we better explain that to you."

The mistake has been picked up by hundreds of people on social media with one person on Twitter saying they "couldn't believe their eyes" when they saw it.