British royal chauffeur probed for security breach

LONDON: Buckingham Palace said yesterday it had suspended a royal chauffeur alleged to have let undercover journalists enter Queen Elizabeth's London residence and sit in her car in return for a bribe.

The tabloid News of The World said two of its reporters posing as Middle East businessmen paid 1,000 pounds ($1,580) to the chauffeur to evade security checks at the palace.

The paper said the story exposed lax security at the palace. "We could have been Al-Qaeda, we could have had a bomb or at least a tracking device," it said.