Air disruption businessmen pay £1,200 taxi fare

A taxi firm has collected its biggest ever fare – from a group of businessmen who booked a ride to Geneva.

Amber Cars said the seven men paid £1,200 to be driven from Northampton to the Swiss city after the volcanic ash cloud grounded their flight.

They set off on the 700 mile (1,126km)journey in a minibus taxi at 0330 BST on Friday and arrived in the lakeside city 13 hours later.

Carl Berryman from the taxi firm said: “They were desperate to get there.”

Record booking

The businessmen, who had been in Northampton for a meeting, needed to be in Geneva to catch a flight to Portugal where they had another meeting to attend.

Mr Berryman said: “They were over the moon about the booking and we were elated too.

“Our director couldn’t believe it when we told him about it. This kind of booking is unheard of.”

The company’s previous most expensive booking was £500 for a journey from Northampton to Glasgow.