WHILE I understand the frustration of those mounting a vigorous campaign against the despicable transit of live animals through the Port of Ramsgate, it does them no credit insulting others who are doing the best they can to stop it within the constraints of the law, as it applies to the council (Letters, Gazette, July 22).

Residents should be in no doubt that all councillors regret this trade but are powerless to stop it. Many people find it perverse that, as owners of the port, TDC cannot simply refuse the traffic.

But the fact is, as long as any vessel involved can dock safely, the operators pay the requisite port tariff and the trade is legal, then the operation has to be permitted.

Other ports had unsuccessfully tried to ban these exports and we had checked with them that there was nothing significantly different in our situation.

Our lawyers sought counsel's opinion to see if there was any way we could legally turn this business away. Their advice was that we couldn't.

This, coupled with the fact that other ports which tried this had incurred significant costs in legal fees and compensation, led to the reluctant conclusion that we had to allow the trucks through. Some people suggested that we could raise our charges to a punitive level and cited Portsmouth City Council as having successfully stopped live shipments using this tactic.

Sadly, it has just been revealed that the council has had to settle with the operators for an undisclosed sum, written off more than £150,000 of uncollectible charges and announced that it would not attempt to stop live exports in the future.

As for Councillor Ian Driver demanding that TDC gives any revenue received to charity, I am surprised that, as a former TDC officer, he doesn't know this is unlawful.