A black cab driver opened up about the memorable moment Paul Gascoigne got into his taxi.
Tom Hutley said it was one of the best celebrity encounters he has experienced on the job – after the England legend insisted that he be referred to by his famous nickname as opposed to ‘sir’. The former Spurs midfielder also made an unexpected offer after arriving at his destination.
He discussed the bonkers trip on the Happy Hour Podcast where he left the hosts JaackMaate and Stevie White in fits of laughter.
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(Image: Happy Hour Podcast)
Tom is a London taxi driver and a content creator with 111,000 YouTube subscribers and he said he picked up Gascoigne outside The Ivy in Covent Garden.
Remembering it, he said: “He only wanted to go to Soho… He is like, ‘well, I am going to pay you now’ and I was like, ‘don’t worry, sir’ and I don’t make out that I recognise them. They are just like everyone else at the back of my cab.
“So I was like, ‘don’t worry, sir’ and he is like, ‘call me Gazza, call me Gazza’ and I was like, ‘alright Gazza’, and I had to sort of like play into it. I couldn’t just pretend I didn’t know who he was.”
Laughing, he continued: “He hands me a £50 note through the slot and he goes, ‘oh just give me 25 quid change’ and I know it is only going to be like a seven quid fare.
“But obviously jumping in a cab is easier than him walking over there and getting accosted or whatever. Fine, we do that and as he goes out he is like, ‘do you want a selfie?’ And I was like, ‘yeah, alright.’”
(Image: Happy Hour Podcast)
After posting the clip on TikTok, one person commented: “I also met Gazza, he really is a nice guy introducing himself, cracking jokes and talking about his playing days.”
Another said: “TaxiTom is a great bloke.”
And commenting on Instagram, one social media user wrote: “I met him in Poole when I was doing seasonal work at a Tesco Express. He was the same with me. He asked if I wanted a picture with him. I never asked first. What a guy.”
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