David Lammy has been accused of “acting like a thug” and “losing it” during a row over a £600 taxi fare with a taxi driver. Cabbie Nassim Mimun, 40, claimed the Foreign Secretary refused to pay for a six-hour drive to a French ski resort.
Mr Lammy “totally refutes” the allegations and insisted the fare was paid in full. The taxi driver said: “When I dropped the couple off in France, and asked for the extra money, Mr Lammy lost it. He was acting like a thug.
“Because I was scared of Mr Lammy’s behaviour, I drove off from them.
“The doors of the car were open, and I had no idea their luggage was still in my car.
“It was only when I got to the police station that I realised that the luggage was still there. It wasn’t stolen, I handed it to the police.”
Mr Lammy, 52, spent three days with the King and Queen on a state visit to Italy last month before he and his wife Nicola Green were driven from Forli to Flaine, in the French Alps.
The driver alleged Mr Lammy “became aggressive” when asked to pay the £588 fare. The remainder of the £1,300 total bill was to be paid by a booking service.
Mr Mimun accused the Cabinet minister “snatching the receipt from his hand” when asked to pay for the taxi.
The fee was paid up front to the transfer service but the driver insisted he was owed money on arrival and that he needed to be paid in cash, a source said.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said Mr Lammy and his spouse were victims in the case and that the driver has been charged with theft after driving off with their luggage.
Ms Green, who was speaking to the driver while Mr Lammy went into the house, told police in a statement that she felt threatened and that the taxi driver had showed her a knife in his glovebox, it is understood.
After he left with their luggage, a member of the Foreign Secretary’s office reportedly contacted the driver to get it back. It was said to have been deposited at a police station with a “considerable” sum of money missing from Ms Green’s bag.
A Foreign Office spokesman 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 charged with theft.
“As there is an ongoing legal process, it would be inappropriate to comment further.”