Bungling cops came under fire today after they used a photograph of Jeremy Clarkson in a recruitment advert.
An image of the TV presenter, who may be facing a police probe, was posted on Twitter by the Edinburgh division of Police Scotland along with a recruitment link.
The post, which also featured a photo of Zayn Malik from One Direction, was quickly removed after furious online users responded.
A caption with the post read: “Looking for a new job? Police Scotland are recruiting now.”
The blunder comes just a day after the BBC announced that Clarkson had been fired from his job after assaulting a Top Gear Producer.
Twitter users were quick to respond to the gaffe.
Kenneth Douglas wrote: “are @EdinburghPolice looking to employ a violent bully?#socialmediafail #tryingtohard” sic.
John Devlin added: “@EdinburghPolice sending out all the wrong signals there. Ideal candidate for the fuzz?”
A Police Scotsman spokeswoman said the force did not want to cause offence, adding the post had been removed.
She said: “Social media is an important tool for communicating with the public.
“It is never our intention to cause offence to our communities whenever humour is used during our online interaction and this post has now been removed.”