Editorial Standards & Ethics Policy

1. Purpose

London Drivers Voice (LDV) is an independent publication covering the issues that affect London’s 110,000 licensed private hire vehicle drivers. This document sets out the editorial standards that govern everything we publish. It exists to protect the people we write about, the drivers we serve, and the credibility of this publication.

LDV is published by Veritux Limited, a company registered in England and Wales. Our editorial decisions are made independently and are not subject to influence from any union, platform, trade association, political party, or commercial advertiser.

2. Independence

• LDV accepts no advertising, sponsorship, or paid content from ride-hailing platforms, taxi trade organisations, or trade unions.
• Editorial decisions are made solely on the basis of newsworthiness, accuracy, and public interest.
• LDV discloses any relationship that could be perceived as a conflict of interest.
• All staff and contributors must disclose any financial or personal relationship with organisations they cover.
• If LDV ever publishes sponsored or paid content in future, it will be clearly and prominently labelled as such, separate from editorial content.

3. Accuracy

Accuracy is our primary obligation. We take the following steps to ensure factual accuracy:

• All factual claims must be sourced and verifiable before publication.
• Statistics and data are attributed to their primary source.
• Where claims are contested, both positions are presented.
• We distinguish between established fact, reported assertion, and editorial opinion.
• Headlines must fairly represent the content of the article they accompany.

4. Right of Reply

Before publishing any article that makes a specific factual claim about an organisation, individual, or institution, LDV will:

• Contact the subject of the claim with the specific allegation or question.
• Allow a reasonable deadline for response — minimum 48 hours for non-urgent matters.
• Publish the response in full if provided, or note clearly that no response was received.
• Not alter the wording of responses without the respondent’s consent.

Right of reply is a professional courtesy and a legal protection. Failure to seek it before publication weakens our credibility and increases legal risk. It is mandatory for all analysis and investigative pieces.

5. Opinion vs Fact

LDV publishes both factual reporting and editorial opinion. These must be clearly distinguished:

Content type	How it is labelled
Factual reporting	No label required
Analysis or interpretation	Labelled “Analysis”
Editorial opinion	Labelled “Opinion” or “Comment”
Explainer or background	Labelled “Explainer”
Satire or illustration	Clearly marked as illustration

Opinion pieces must be grounded in fact and must not assert as fact something that is not established.

6. Attribution and Plagiarism

We credit the originator of any third-party content, data, or material we use.

• Statistics, quotes, and findings drawn from other publications, reports, or organisations are attributed to their original source.
• Images, graphics, and illustrations are credited to their creator or licensor wherever this is possible to establish.
• Where we cannot identify an originator despite reasonable effort, we say so clearly in the piece.
• Any failure to credit a source is corrected with the same prominence as the original article, at the earliest opportunity.

7. Defamation

LDV will not publish material that is defamatory. The following standards apply:

• We do not assert criminal conduct without evidence sufficient to support such a claim.
• We use “conflict of interest” rather than “corruption” unless corruption is demonstrably proven.
• We do not publish personal attacks on individuals unrelated to their public role.
• Images, illustrations, and cartoons must not imply criminal conduct without factual basis.
• We distinguish clearly between what an organisation did and what we believe it intended.

8. Discrimination

LDV does not publish content that makes prejudicial or derogatory reference to a person’s age, disability, health, gender identity, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation, or any other characteristic that places them at risk of discrimination.

• We refer to these characteristics only where directly relevant to the story.
• We do not encourage hatred or abuse against any group on the basis of these characteristics.
• London’s PHV workforce is highly diverse. Reporting on working conditions, pay, and policy never extends into commentary on individual drivers’ personal characteristics unless relevant to the story and handled with their consent.

9. Harassment

LDV’s journalists do not intimidate or harass the people or organisations we report on.

• We identify ourselves as journalists and name this publication when contacting a source, company, or official.
• We do not use deception to obtain information, except where this is justified by a clear and significant public interest.
• If a person or organisation reasonably asks us to stop contacting them about a matter, we comply immediately, save where the public interest requires otherwise.

10. Justice

LDV does not knowingly or negligently interfere with criminal investigations or proceedings.

• We do not identify anyone under 18 involved in criminal, immigration, or family proceedings, except as permitted by law.
• We do not identify a person under criminal investigation before they have been charged, unless the information has already been lawfully made public, or there is a clear public interest in doing so.
• We preserve the anonymity of victims of sexual offences, except as permitted by law or with their express consent.
• We do not offer payment to witnesses or defendants in criminal proceedings, except as permitted by law.

11. Children

LDV’s reporting covers the PHV industry and is not aimed at children, but our coverage can touch on rules affecting young or vulnerable passengers, and on drivers’ families. Where this happens:

• We do not identify or feature an identifiable child under 18 without the consent of the child and, where appropriate, a responsible adult, except where there is an overwhelming public interest.
• We give reasonable consideration to any request from a child, or from an adult who was identified as a child in our content, to be anonymised.
• This does not apply to incidental images of general scenes that do not put a child at risk of harm.

12. Sources

• On-record sources are named and attributed.
• Off-record information may inform our reporting but will not be published without corroboration from a named source or document.
• We do not pay sources for information.
• We protect the identity of confidential sources.
• Parliamentary and Assembly statements are treated as primary sources and quoted from the public record.

13. Self-Harm & Suicide

Where our reporting touches on the financial and personal pressure facing drivers, including cases of serious hardship, we follow established guidance on reporting self-harm and suicide.

• We do not provide excessive detail of any method, specific location, or speculation about motive.
• We signpost sources of support in any article that discusses self-harm or suicide.

If you are affected by anything discussed in our reporting, Samaritans can be contacted free, any time, on 116 123.

14. Corrections

When LDV publishes something that is factually incorrect, we correct it promptly and transparently. Our corrections policy is:

• Corrections are published at the top of the original article with the date of correction.
• We do not silently edit published articles.
• Significant corrections are noted in our corrections log.
• Anyone who believes we have published something inaccurate can contact press@londondriversvoice.org.

A separate Corrections Policy page is published at londondriversvoice.org/corrections.

15. Privacy

• We do not publish private information about individuals without a clear public interest justification.
• We do not publish the personal contact details of private individuals.
• Correspondence sent to LDV is treated as confidential unless the sender explicitly consents to publication.
• We comply with UK GDPR in our handling of any personal data received in the course of our journalism.

16. Complaints

If you have a complaint about anything published by London Drivers Voice:

• Email press@londondriversvoice.org with the headline or URL of the article, the specific claim you believe is inaccurate, and the evidence you rely on.
• We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days.
• We will investigate and respond within 20 working days.
• If your complaint is upheld, we will correct the article and notify you.

This policy was adopted in May 2026, updated June 2026 to align with the Impress Standards Code, and will be reviewed annually.

londondriversvoice.org — press@londondriversvoice.org — Version 1.1, June 2026