Globe-trotting cabbie comes home

Taxing journey: Tony Arnold has travelled 11,000 miles

A cabbie is returning to Coventry on Tuesday after a journey which took him half way across the world.

Tony Arnold and his technician John Rula have clocked up 11,000 miles since they began their travels three months ago.

The pair passed through Eastern Europe and Russia on their way to Beijing in China.

The Chinese government had commissioned the cab from Coventry firm LTI Carbodies in an effort to promote the English language in China.

Unmissable opportunity

LTI Carbodies' parent company Manganese Bronze already has links with the country.

It has a 20-year contract with a Chinese car manufacturer Brilliance China Automotive Holdings who make and sell black cabs in China.

Mr Arnold says it was the trip of a lifetime:

"I would never ever have had an opportunity to do anything like this probably in my lifetime again and I don't think, on a personal note, I would ever go to Russia or China for a holiday.

"Not because of the people but because of the distance - it's just so far.

"So it was an opportunity I could just not turn down."