London cabbie drives to Madrid and back to pick up a labrador

A London cabbie has completed one of the oddest fares of his career - picking up a dog from Madrid.

John Jupp was called by the labrador's owner and asked to deliver him to a Knightsbridge address.
The owner, who does not want to be named, said she was willing to pay the fare for a round trip to Madrid in order to have her dog with her.

"She asked if I take dogs in my taxi," said Mr Jupp. "As she had previously been a good customer, I said yes. She then asked me to give her a price to pick the dog up and bring it to her house in Knightsbridge, so I asked her for the address. "Her reply was truly a moment I will not forget - Madrid."

Mr Judd, who won't reveal what the fare came to, travelled to Santander by ferry, before a four-hour drive to Madrid to pick up the dog and its "helper".

"Wednesday saw the 4am start to a 16-hour drive to Calais with the dog and its Spanish minder on board," said Mr Judd.

However, the trip hit a snag when the cab arrived in Calais. Mr Judd said: "We were greeted by a very nice chap who explained that the dog's vet certificate had expired by six hours, resulting in it not being allowed to travel. Worse still, even if we saw a vet at 9pm we would have to wait 24 hours.

"I can report that French vets are as mercenary as British ones and we parted with £100 for six minutes - good work if you can get it."
After a night in Calais the trip resumed and the dog was reunited with its owner in Knightsbridge after midnight.

Mr Judd initially thought he might have to turn down the fare as his usual credit card processing firm could not handle such a large amount. However, he used a mobile phone app called Hailo, used by cabbies and Londoners to book cabs from phones.

"As I had just joined Hailo I thought I would run it past Russell Hall [one of the co-founders]. It went through without a hitch."