New threat to London cab trade
Maida Vale minicab driver buys Saddam Hussein’s fighter jet
A Maida Vale minicab driver has treated himself to one of the most unlikely pieces of memorabilia – one of Saddam Hussein’s old fighter jets.
Shamsu Miah, 39, of Sutherland Avenue, spent £7,000 on the Russian MiG 15 jet which last flew eight years ago.
Unsurprisingly the jet – built during the Cold War – is too big for Westminster’s streets and is stored in a hangar at RAF Manston in Kent.
The aircraft is in full working order but Mr Miah, who has never flown a plane, has no intention of taking to the skies. “I’m too scared to start the thing in case it does go up and I don’t know how to get it back down,” he said.
“Some people may have bought a plane but I don’t know many people who have bought a fighter jet.
“These things don’t come along every day.”
Mr Miah, who has been a minicab driver since 2001, is a director of Imperial Air Salvage which scraps and recycles old passenger and cargo planes.
But there will be no scrapping of this fighter jet, which he says is for keeps.
source: http://www.london24.com/