David Lammy forced to deny having a GUN with him during French ski trip visit as taxi row deepens

David Lammy has been forced to deny he was carrying a gun during a chaotic taxi trip which he is alleged to have dodged a £590 fare on.

The Foreign Secretary has been plunged into a humiliating row after taxi driver Nassim Mimun, 40, claimed Mr Lammy and his wife, Nicola Green, refused to pay the fare for a 360-mile journey from Italy to France. 

The Foreign Office has scrambled to extinguish the claims, insisting that Mr Lammy and his wife had paid the fare in advance, were victims and the driver has been charged with theft after driving off with their luggage.

Lammy, the Labour MP for Tottenham, and his partner were travelling to the French Alps for a private holiday, having joined the King for a state visit to Italy in April. 

Mr Mimun claims he took the couple more than 360 miles from the Italian town of Forli to the French ski resort of Flaine. 

The driver claims Mr Lammy became ‘aggressive’ when he was asked to pay 700 euros (£590) of the 1,550 euro bill, with the rest covered by the booking service. 

But the taxi row has deepened today after Mr Mimun claimed the Foreign Secretary was carrying a weapon, The Sun reports.

No evidence has been put forward to prove Mr Lammy had a gun and a source close to the Foreign Secretary told newspaper: ‘It’s a completely absurd allegation. Of course he didn’t have a gun. 

‘The allegation speaks more to the character of the taxi driver than anything else.’

Nassim Mimun, 40, said he was left ‘scared’ during a trip delivering Mr Lammy, 52, and his 53-year-old artist wife, Nicola Green, to an Alpine ski resort

Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green had spent three days in Italy accompanying King Charles on a state visit before taking the taxi to France. Lammy and Green are pictured arriving for a state banquet amid Britain’s King Charles and Queen Camilla’s visit, at the Quirinale Palace in Rome, Italy, April 9, 2025

In court documents, it has also been revealed how Mr Mimun claimed to French officials that two cars were following them on the huge journey. 

Mr Lammy and his wife could be called to France to give evidence after a court hearing was set for November in relation to Mr Mimun being charged with theft.

According to legal documents, Mr Mimun told prosecutors: ‘When I received the transport request, the name of the victims was not mentioned nor that they were authority figures, which is what constitutes a transport risk so the tariff is not the same. 

‘I asked for 700 euros to be paid. They refused, and they left. He came towards me. I left in the car. I was scared, because I knew since Forli that he had a gun on him. 

I called the Swiss police. I pressed on the GPS, to find the nearest police station or gendarmerie, and it indicated the municipal police of Cluses. 

‘By coincidence, they said I stole 700 euros from them. The suitcase had a code. We were followed from Italy by two vehicles because of her husband.’ 

Mr Mimun’s on the record statement was handed to vice-prosecutor Aude Menaige in the French commune of Bonneville on May 6 – three weeks after the trip. 

Questions are also mounting over why Mr Lammy had no bodyguard in the car and whether or not Mr Mimun had even been vetted.

Business as usual: David Lammy is seen speaking during an interview in Islamabad, Pakistan, yesterday

Mr Mimun shared a picture which he said showed that Mr Lammy and his wife had left his car ‘in a filthy state’ 

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Mr Mimun has accused Mr Lammy of ‘acting like a thug’ during the subsequent argument, in which he insisted that the fare had already been ‘paid in full’ when the six-hour journey was booked via an agency. 

He also said he had exposed ‘a very serious security breach’, as he had not been told he had one of the most senior members of the British government in the back of his Ford Kuga.

The driver, meanwhile, is alleged to have ‘fraudulently removed luggage and cash’ from the couple, who have claimed in a police statement that he attempted to intimidate them by opening his vehicle’s glove compartment, which revealed a knife. 

He insists that he did not knowingly take the couple’s bags – claiming instead that he decided to go to the police station to lodge a complaint when they refused to pay and had not realised the luggage was still in his vehicle.

King Charles III and UK Secretary of State David Lammy participate in a ‘Clean Power for Growth’ roundtable during a visit to the Mattatoio on day three of King Charles III and Queen Camilla’s State visit to The Republic of Italy on April 09, 2025

Lammy and his wife asked to be taken to Flaine, a ski resort in Haute Savoie, France. File image of Flaine

He said he handed the bags over to police, who worked out that they belonged to the government official and his wife. 

An ally of Mr Lammy said: ‘Anyone choosing to believe made-up stories and photos from a rogue taxi driver charged with a serious crime by French prosecutors over the UK Foreign Secretary needs to get a grip.’ 

An FCDO spokesperson said: ‘We totally refute these allegations. ‘The fare was paid in full.

‘The Foreign Secretary and his wife are named as victims in this matter and the driver has been fired by his employer and charged with theft. 

‘As there is an ongoing legal process, it would be inappropriate to comment further.’ 

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