The Foreign Secretary David Lammy has been accused of refusing to pay a £590 taxi fare.

Mr Lammy and his wife Nicola Green were collected in Italy and driven 360 miles to France.

The couple had been on a three-day state visit to Italy with the King and Queen.

The taxi driver alleges Mr Lammy, 52, wouldn’t pay the fare after the six-hour drive from Forli near Bologna to a French ski resort in the Alps.

The minister is said to have been “aggressive” during an exchange of words.

The un-named driver told local the newspaper La Provence that he dropped off the Lammys at their destination and drove to a nearby police station to report the incident.

It’s said officers discovered two diplomatic passports and two number plates, as well as a coded briefcase, in the boot.

The items helped police identify Mr Lammy and his wife as the taxi driver didn’t know their names.

Nicola Green

The driver filed a formal complaint and the Bonneville prosecutor’s office in Haute Savoie, France, opened an investigation into a “commercial dispute”.

A foreign Office spokesman said:

“We totally refute these accusations.

“The fare was paid in full.

“The Foreign Secretary and his wife were interviewed as victims in this case, and the driver is being prosecuted for theft.”

He added: “As this is an ongoing legal process, it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

The taxi driver told La Provence that he was the victim of an assault.

He claimed Mr Lammy “snatched the receipt from his hand”.

He explained it was up to the passengers to pay the £590 fare out of the total cost of the £1,305 ride.

The rest was covered by the transfer company used to book the trip.

Foreign Office sources denied these amounts were accurate.

The driver said that had he known who Mr Lammy was he would have charged “much more”.

He told La Provence:

“They never said they were working for the Government.

“In this type of transfer, we’re driving special people, with suitcases and sensitive documents.

“All of that comes at a price.”

French prosecutors said Mr Lammy and his wife were now suing the driver for allegedly “fraudulently removing luggage and cash”.

Meanwhile, the driver has sent a formal written notice to the British embassy, offering to settle the bill and the dispute amicably.

Foreign Office (FO) sources claimed that Mr Lammy was the victim of theft when the taxi driver drove off with his bags after a dispute about the correct fee.

The FO added the taxi ride was a personal ride, paid by Mr Lammy himself rather than by the taxpayer.

Boris Duffau, the Bonneville prosecutor, confirmed the legal complaint against Mr Lammy.

He told the MailOnline:

“The stories between the two parties are not the same.

“Of course, the passengers are not saying the same thing as the driver when he filed a complaint.

“The passengers have assured us that the driver had already been paid.

“The driver said the opposite.”

The unnamed driver will now face a court hearing in November to face the charge of “fraudulently removing luggage and cash”.