Yesterday we brought you news of how London’s Regent Street had been brought to a standstill following the parking of a black cab with bullet holes in the back window near Hamley’s. After an inspection by bomb disposal experts, the vehicle was not deemed suspicious and shoppers were allowed to continue on their way.
The plot has now thickened even further as it’s emerged that the black cab isn’t a ‘real’ black cab as it isn’t registered with the London Taxi Drivers’ Association because it didn’t have a registered Transport for London license plate. Black cab driver Mark Dugdale explains:
A lot of millionaires use them to get around London quicker. I know Oligarchs have bought them but I’ve never seen one parked there before.
Celebrities – including Kate Moss, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Stephen Fry – have also been known to privately buy them to avoid congestion and parking charges.
Images VIA
The taxi isn’t licensed by Transport for London. It hasn’t got the plates and it’s got tinted windows, which aren’t allowed on London cabs.
It could also belong to a hotel or a private members club.
It’s currently rumoured that the cab belongs to a billionaire oligarch, who parked it outside Hamley’s so he could go out and do some shopping before finding the road closed on their return but I’m not really sure where that has emerged from. Either way, it doesn’t explain why it’s riddled with bullet holes or what was going on the other day at all, even if it is true.
Hopefully we’ll get to the bottom of it before long, but I’ve got a feeling it’s going to join all these other stories in the ranks of the unsolved mysteries.
