French listeners to RTL’s Petit Matin heard taxi driver Nassim Mimoum, 40, make what host Stéphane Carpentier described as an unbelievable request for help. “Today, I am addressing directly to His Majesty the King so that he proceeds with my compensation,” said Mimoum, according to Le Figaro.
The driver stated that United Kingdom Foreign Secretary David Lammy still owed him a 1,550-euro fare for a three-day, 2,000-kilometer journey that began in Rome and ended in Haute-Savoie in April 2023. “The minister never paid me a penny for three days of transport,” said Mimoum.
Eight days earlier, on 3 November 2025, the Bonneville court in Haute-Savoie cleared Mimoum of accusations that he had stolen Lammy’s luggage, issuing what French legal language calls a relaxation. The acquittal ended the theft case but left the unpaid-fare dispute unresolved.
Mimoum said the conflict escalated in May 2025 at a hotel after he again requested payment. “He shouted at me in English: ‘F**ing Frenchman!’” said the driver during the RTL segment. Fearing assault, Mimoum claimed he drove off with the couple’s suitcases still in the trunk but returned them the same day.
In a statement to French police, Lammy alleged that the driver pulled a knife and demanded the fare even though, he maintained, it had already been settled before departure. Mimoum denied wielding a weapon and countered that Lammy threatened him. Both men filed complaints, yet only Lammy’s proceeded to investigation and trial, which ended with the November acquittal.
Branding himself a simple, modest French driver, Mimoum framed the matter as a question of Anglo-French honor. “It is a matter of the honor of England,” he said, before adding, “Your Majesty, I ask you to intervene and proceed with my payment.” He told listeners he would send a full written account to Buckingham Palace.
Written with the help of a news-analysis system.