Writing a controversial letter to a newspaper, when you have a reasonably large public profile, is pretty much guaranteed to get you coverage. This week, John Griffin – chairman of mini-cab firm Addison Lee – was forced to apologise after he sent an email to his local newspaper about Potters Bar’s footballer Daniel Ailey.

During a match last month, the striker was abused by opposition fans who made loud, grunting noises – apparently to make fun of the way the deaf footballer communicates with his team mates. The police were called to the ground, but left once they’d established that the abuse had stopped.

That might have been the end of it. But then, in an ill-advised and unprompted move, Griffin wrote an email from his Addison Lee account to the journalist who covered the story at his local paper, the Welwyn & Hatfield Times. In a bizarre rant, the millionaire wrote:

“Do I read it correctly that a deaf footballer makes a grunting sound to attract team mates’ attention? I long ago gave up watching women’s tennis due to the loud and acceptable level of grunting. I note that the police were called and I hope they demanded that the footballer should discontinue making noises that could be misinterpreted by members of the crowd.”

Of course, the email went public, and outrage followed – not least from hearing charities that were angered by the comments. This week, accompanied by a spokesperson from his company, Griffin made apologies for any offence caused. But why the comments were even made in the first place remains a bewildering mystery.

Having a high profile means that you will often find it easy to get coverage, but this obviously applies to both positive and negative headlines. It’s not the first time that Griffin has got himself into hot water, and that previous indiscretion would probably have helped his firm lose a number of customers in the cycling world.

At this rate, he’s probably going to find that his profile is more of a liability than an asset for Addison Lee.