A statement with regard to false and defamatory claims.

Taxi Driver Online (TDO) would like to make it clear we have no association whatsoever with any solicitor or other professionals, contrary to false and defamatory claims made on our discussion forum and on several other websites.

TDO was founded by working taxi and private hire drivers, and since its inception only working owner-drivers have been involved in its ownership and administration.  No driver associated with the founding, ownership or administration of the site has any interest in any taxi or private hire radio circuit or similar firm or other firm offering goods or services to the trade, nor do they hire or employ other drivers in any way.

For the avoidance of doubt, and with regard to several false, misleading and defamatory claims being made, we would also like to make the following clear:

1) TDO has never been used to sell legal or other professional services, or to sell goods or other services such as advertising space, nor have any attempts been made to charge for access to the website's content or for access to our discussion forum.

2) TDO has never contacted any councillor, MP, local authority, arm of Government or trade members other than in a journalistic capacity and to promote the website and the contents therein.

3) Excepting one complaint regarding comments made by a contributor to our forum, TDO has received no accusations that anything on the site may be defamatory.

4) Excepting several vague, unsubstantiated and often incomprehensible allegations made on our discussion forum related to the defamatory claims addressed above, TDO has received no complaints of any illegality or other impropriety.

5) We would like to reiterate that all claims to the contrary of the above are completely false and without foundation, and since they undermine TDO's reputation and integrity, are defamatory or amount to malicious falsehood and are thus actionable in law.

6) The site currently carries a contributed document containing details of local authorities which presently restrict taxi numbers. The compilation of this document has entailed significant contact with local authorities by email and telephone.  TDO has also contacted restricting authorities with enquiries regarding their response to the Government's Action Plan published in March 2004 following the Office of Fair Trading's report of November 2003.

7) With regard to the various false claims made about TDO, we would be grateful if anyone could bring to our attention any further allegations of this nature, or, for example, anyone purporting to represent TDO in order to discredit the site or to sell good or services.

8) TDO also contains substantial amounts of facts and opinions, with the latter often clearly being of a critical nature.  However, we would be happy to correct any inadvertent misstatements of fact.  Moreover, although we are sure that any opinions expressed by TDO constitute fair comment within current defamation law, we would very happy to consider any complaints in this regard.

9) We should also underline that the opinions expressed by TDO do not represent the views of third-party contributors to our discussion forum, nor has TDO ever claimed to represent 'the trade'.