Ofcom has turned down a complaint from a charity which claimed it had been unfairly treated in an LBC discussion show.The Swan Sanctuary had complained to the broadcast regulator after LBC presenter Steve Allen broadcast what it claimed were comments that would have given listeners a bad impression of the charity's work.
The sanctuary claimed Allen had told listeners not to bother contacting them to seek help in rescuing wild birds.
The complaint related to Allen's show on 13 August last year, when he discussed the duck and nine ducklings that had nested on his property. He invited listeners to suggest solutions to his problem.
One listener suggested Allen contact the swan sanctuary, but he said he had tried calling the sanctuary but had had the phone put down on him.
The sanctuary argued that the comments were fallacious, and an abuse of Allen's position and refuted what it saw as a claim that it would refuse to help wildlife in distress.
LBC argued that, for some time, Allen had discussed his problem with wild ducks on air and that he had often been complimentary about the Swan Sanctuary.
It said no listener would have inferred anything serious from Allen's "thoroughly irreverent" discussion.
Ofcom ruled that Allen was "entitled to relate his personal experinces during his programme" and that his comments "did not amount to a serious criticism of the sanctuary".
In a statement, the regulator said: "While Ofcom appreciated the sanctuary's concern about the comments, it took the view that they did not constitute an allegation of wrongdoing or incompetence."
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