A NORTH-EAST baker has lodged a formal complaint after becoming the victim of an apparent internet prankster his afternoon.

Anyone using the search engine Google to find out information about Newcastle-based bakery Greggs would find an alternate version of the company logo at the top of the results page.

The company asked the tech giant to investigate 'as a matter of urgency', while Google said the problem was caused by an 'algorithmic bug'.

In an apparent slur on the both the company - which has branches nationwide - and its customers, the logo contains the catchline: 'providing sh*t to scum for over 70 years'.

The Northern Echo has uncovered evidence which points to the possibility that the prankster has links with the North-East.

A Greggs spokeswoman said, in a statement: “We are aware of the abusive logo and have made a formal complaint to Google and asked them to rectify this as a matter of urgency.”

As of 3.30pm, the offensive logo was no longer visible on the search results page.

It had linked to Uncyclopedia, a satirical version of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.

A web page showing the history of the file appeared to show the offensive version of the logo was created by an Uncyclopedia user calling themselves English Peasant.

According to their Wikipedia page, English Peasant grew up in Darlington, although this information has yet to be verified.

Social media was awash with people talking about the incident, with users taking to Twitter to discuss the issue.

In response to one of the many questions from Twitter users about the incident, the company's official Twitter account, @GreggsTheBakers, said: "Something up with Google, apparently. Fingers crossed they fix it soon."

At 4pm, Greggs tweeted the following picture, along with the tongue-in-cheek post: "Aaaand relax! Maybe those kind folks @GoogleUK could give us the doodle tomorrow?"

The Northern Echo:

A Google spokeswoman joked that the Greggs had promised doughnuts when the glitch was fixed.

She added: "Google worked hard to fix an algorithmic bug as soon as it was flagged.

"From its Twitter feed, Greggs seems pleased this is resolved."

Greggs can trace its roots back to the 1930s, when John Gregg started delivering eggs and yeast to families in the Newcastle area.

It opened its first shop in 1951 and now has almost 1,700 stores across the country, employing about 20,000 people.