French taxi driver cleared of stealing from David Lammy after fare dispute

A French taxi driver accused of stealing money and luggage from David Lammy has been acquitted due to lack of evidence, a prosecutor said. Nassim Mimun, 40, drove the deputy prime minister and his wife, Nicola Green, more than 600km (370 miles) from Forli, near Bologna in northern Italy, to the ski resort of Flaine in the French Alps on 11 April. But at the end of the journey the “tone escalated” over the cost of the fare, the Bonneville prosecutor Boris Duffau said in May. The driver, from the south-eastern city of Avignon, then left with his passengers’ bags in the boot of his car. “He dropped them off the next day at a municipal police station” but that was considered theft due to the length of time he had them in his possession, Duffau said. The driver accused Lammy in media interviews of refusing to pay for the journey and complained of violence. He was acquitted over the alleged theft because of a lack of proof, Duffau said on Monday. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said at the time that Lammy and his spouse were victims in the case and denied that the Labour MP for Tottenham had refused to pay the driver. Lammy and Mimun both filed complaints but only the justice secretary’s was deemed substantial and the Frenchman was charged with “theft of cash and personal belongings”. The driver had claimed to French media that Lammy became “aggressive” when asked to pay €700 (£590) of the €1,550 bill, the remainder of which was to be paid by the booking service. The fee was paid upfront to the transfer service but Mimun insisted he was owed money on arrival and that he needed to be paid in cash, a source said at the time. The MP and his wife had been in Italy to join King Charles on a state visit before heading to the French Alps for a private holiday. Lammy was foreign secretary at the time of the incident and was named justice secretary and deputy prime minister in September as part of Keir Starmer’s reshuffle.