Mayor Rob Ford offered cryptic responses Tuesday to allegations that he gave the finger to a woman who told him to stop talking on his cellphone while driving.

“There has been a story published that while I was on the phone I made a rude gesture to a fellow driver. This is not accurate and it’s unfortunate this misunderstanding occurred,” the mayor wrote on his Facebook page.

In an exchange of text messages, Ford’s press secretary, Adrienne Batra, told CityNews that the mayor admits to talking on his cellphone while driving, but did not give the other driver the finger.

When asked by a CTV interviewer “what happened with flipping the bird,” Ford laughed for 10 seconds and said, “that’s funny,” before his press secretary cut off the interview.

Ottilie Mason, the woman who first made the allegation in a Facebook posting, was unimpressed with his Facebook retort. “That doesn’t make any sense at all,” she said. “I misunderstand that I gave her the finger? It’s a very political, non-committal response.”

She said that, to be perfectly accurate, he hung up the phone, then gave her the finger.

As the Star reported Monday, Mason’s post said she, her 6-year-old daughter and her daughter’s babysitter were idling next to Ford at the intersection at Dundas and Spadina when she spotted the mayor talking on his cellphone behind the wheel.

She and her daughter gave him a thumbs-down, and she rolled down her window and told him to stop talking on the phone.

He responded by raising his middle finger, Mason said.

According to one media report, a spokesperson for Toronto Police Traffic Services said he was unsure if police would pursue charges on the issue of driving while using a cellphone, but confirmed that Mark Pugash, director of corporate communications for the police, has been in contact with the mayor’s office about the incident.

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