The Mayor of Canada’s largest city Toronto has denied allegations he has been caught on video smoking crack cocaine.

Rob Ford called the claims “ridiculous” as he addressed a swarm of reporters outside his house in Canada’s biggest city.

The denial came after gossip site Gawker and the Toronto Star published articles saying they had been offered a video of the alleged smoking session.

Both outlets said they declined to pay the $100,000 (£65,930) price tag wanted by a person with the mobile phone footage.

The Toronto Star claimed the Mayor smoked drugs with purported drug dealers and that the allegations related to events in the last six months.

The newspaper said the video showed the politician “sitting in a chair, wearing a white shirt, top buttons open, inhaling from what appears to be a glass crack pipe”.

It said two of its reporters watched the video three times – but admitted it cannot verify the authenticity of the clip.

However it said it did appear to “clearly show the Mayor in a well-lit room”.

Mr Ford said on Friday that the claims were “absolutely not true”.

“These allegations are ridiculous, another story with respect to the Toronto Star going after me,” he said.

“And that’s all I’ve got to say for now.”

The Star said those trying to sell the video were involved in the Toronto drug trade.

The Mayor has battled a series of negative articles in recent months but still has an approval rating of around 50%.

However, that is down from 70% in the year after he took power, according to Forum Research.

A Toronto Police spokesman said officers are “closely monitoring the situation”.

Approached by the news service Reuters, Mr Ford’s lawyer did not respond to requests for comments.

“We’re just trying to see whether or not such a video exists and whether or not any video has been doctored or altered,” Dennis Morris told the Toronto Sun newspaper.

Meanwhile, US-based Gawker is asking for donations in what it has labelled a “Crackstarter” campaign to raise $200,000 (£130,000) to buy the video and post it online.

It said it has already raised $28,000 (£18,000).

Mr Ford, 43, was elected in 2010 on a promise to “stop the gravy train” at Toronto’s City Hall but he has frequently attracted unfavourable news coverage.

Stories include a conflict of interest case that almost cost him his job, a photograph of him reading documents while driving on a motorway, and an altercation with a reporter on a patch of land outside his house.

Earlier this week he was cleared of breaching a by-law after sticking magnetic business cards with his home phone number on – as part of his tactic to be accessible to voters – on cars in the city.

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