A supermarket chain has sacked one of its directors after earlier apologising for comments in which he branded the Welsh language ‘gibberish’.

Iceland, which has its headquarters in Deeside and stores throughout Wales including in Aberystwyth, Barmouth and Pwllheli, insisted that a series of statements made by its director of corporate affairs, Keith Hann, did not reflect the company’s views.

The statement was reportedly made in a personal blog, which has now been made private, in which it is also alleged that he has previously compared the language to the sound of "someone clearing their throat".

Mr Hann has also been accused of tweeting that "inhabitants of the UK’s Celtic fringe loathe all visitors", referring to people travelling to Wales.

His Twitter account has since been deleted.

A spokeswoman for Iceland said: “Iceland has taken action in light of recent comments made by its director of corporate affairs, resulting in the dismissal of Mr Hann with immediate effect.

"We would like to reiterate that these comments in no way reflect the values or philosophy of our business. We are a proud Welsh company, with a long history of investment in communities across Wales, and apologise for any upset or offence caused.”

The dismissal comes the day after after Iceland issued a statement apologising for any offence caused by the comments.

Mr Hann has a history of criticism for his views on Wales and its language.

In June 2019 he said: "I’d like to say that I have never left England, but regular attendance at an office about 800 yards inside Wales sadly precludes this.

"Still, I take pride in never visiting Scotland despite having a home within sight of the border."

In a 2014 blog post, he said that "supermarket signage" in Wales was “incomprehensible” and that children were educated in a "dead language that sounds uncannily like someone with bad catarrh clearing his throat".

In another post, he said he regrets the fact that his house is not far from the Welsh border.

He wrote: "I regret to say that we are also only about two miles from Wales, thanks to the border lurching east from the natural boundary of the River Dee, and taking a bite out of England that can only have been designed for the convenience of manufacturers of jigsaw puzzles."

He also added that if he moved over the border that his son “would be having part of his education conducted in gibberish".