Ian Hislop ‘spent day freaked out after he was told his taxi had been shot at’

Ian Hislop is said to have spent a day “freaked out” after he was told his taxi had been shot at.

The Private Eye editor and ‘Have I Got News For You’ panellist, 64, was in the back of a black cab on Soho’s Dean Street, London, on Tuesday morning (01.10.24) when the driver said a bullet had struck the rear window after it shattered – but police have now put the incident down to a mechanical issue with the car.

A BBC source told the Evening Standard about Ian’s nervous wait to find out if he had been targeted by a gunman: “(He was) actually quite freaked out by it all. For nearly a whole day he genuinely thought he’d been shot at.”

Staff at Private Eye, known for its in-depth investigations into politicians and businesses, were also understood to be nervous after the events.

One told the Standard on Wednesday: “It hasn’t been a terribly funny 24 hours... it’s all been rather tense here.”

And the BBC insider added to the newspaper the filming of this week’s ‘Have I Got News For You’ will be a “fun one”.

No-one was injured in the incident at around 10am on Tuesday, and after reviewing CCTV footage and forensically examining the taxi, police have now concluded there is “no evidence of a firearms discharge at this time”.

Father-of-two Ian said in a statement he wanted to “thank everyone for their concern”, adding it was “greatly appreciated”.

He said: “The police investigating the incident in the taxi have now advised me that they have completed their forensic tests, have found no evidence of a firearm discharge and will be concentrating their investigations on indications that a mechanical fault caused the window to shatter.

“Thanks again to all concerned for their support and concern.”