Some Soho revellers thought they’d had one too many on Friday evening when a tank came rolling down Dean Street. The green Abbot Self-Propelled Gun, which later made its way triumphantly down Oxford Street, was also seen in St James and around the major tourist destinations.
We tracked it down to a specialist tank experience website called Tanks-A-Lot. Company owner Nick Mead, who owns over 300 tanks, told us the Abbot SPG was hired by the wife of a wealthy foreign businessman for his birthday. The client, who was driven in the tank along central London streets, was keen to see sights including Big Ben and Trafalgar Square. The experience was priced at around £6,000, plus delivery from the Tanks-A-Lot yard in Banbury, Oxfordshire.
The tank is fully registered with tax and insurance, making it roadworthy. “Just the same way as you tax your car, I tax my tanks,” said Mead. Londoners will be glad to know that the gun is deactivated.
What’s more, the tank, which was built in 1965, is old enough to qualify as a “classic car”. This makes it exempt from the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) charges. That’s one way to avoid paying it.
