Their intention was to get 150+ red, white and blue Minis driving around London’s landmarks for a couple of hours. This was to be followed by after-parties in a pub in Fulham, and a central London nightclub. They were expecting, in their words, ‘loads of celebrity guests including Toploader, Hollyoaks, England rugby players, Casualty cast, Sir Geoff Hurst (1966 World Cup), four of the Italian Job cast, and it’s producer and writer’.

The intentions were good, but seem to have gone slightly wrong. Firstly there was a distinct lack of publicity amongst Mini owners. Details of the event were not sent out to the magazines in time for the previous month’s deadlines, and club invitations only seemed to arrive about a week before, leaving no time to contact members. The event was mentioned on the MiniWorld website, but the only other publicity seemed to come through the Mini message forums on the Net, with individuals posting details of the event – Fly55 did not seem to know where to start! The other unfortunate thing was that the date had to be changed from June 9^th – something to do with the police not wanting it at the same time as the Queen’s Birthday Trouping of the Colour. Just before the day, the organisers said that they would allow other coloured Minis, as long as they came with a red, white or blue one.

We arrived early to find only a few cars there. I had gone as a passenger in my son’s white Mini, Pandora, rather than my own, but I soon wished I had taken mine as well. Gradually more cars arrived, but it soon became obvious that there were not going to be 150+ red white and blue minis. In the end 39 cars took part, but about a third of them were not red white or blue. To my knowledge the only celebrity there was England World Cup winner Geoff Hurst. There was a film crew covering the event, but it turned out that they were from the ‘Dating Channel’ – quite what that’s got to do with the Italian Job or Minis I’m still not sure!

Despite this the run itself was great fun. Anyone who has ever been out in a Mini convoy will know how excited Minis become in company with their own kind, and it seemed nearly all of them had air-horns and used them as often as they could. Lots of the cars were dressed up with flags and ribbons, and it made a pretty spectacular sight and sound in the middle of London. Unfortunately the combination of the low turnout and the heavy traffic meant that the cars were split up, so the hoped for picture of Trafalgar Square full of Minis didn’t quite work out.

We stuck to the route we’d been given – apart from a slight deviation when we went wrong after losing the other cars at some lights. We went twice round Parliament Square so that the photographers could get some good shots, then we suddenly saw lots of Minis going over Westminster Bridge to the Embankment. For some reason the press point was not on the main route, and apparently the organisers had intended that only the front three cars (from John Cooper Garages – one containing Geoff Hurst) go there to meet the press. They obviously changed their minds at the last minute as they didn't get any good shots at Trafalgar Square, and started telling people to go over the bridge. We thought someone was going the wrong way and everyone else was just following (like Minis do!) so after another circuit of Parliament Square we continued on the official route. It wasn't until I got a phone call from a couple of friends asking where we were that we realised that a lot of the Minis had gone a different way and were parked up on the Embankment for a photoshoot.

Despite the disorganisation it was cool - or should I say hot! We had a brilliant day for it, constant sunshine. At one time we were in danger of overheating in the traffic along the Kings Road, but luckily Pandora was on her best behaviour.

We went to the ‘party’ at the pub afterwards, everyone was given a free drink voucher, and they gave us a few sandwiches and crisps (which one of the organisers had just gone and bought from Sainsbury's!). Most people started wandering off after that.

I spoke to some of the organisers about how they were raising money, as they hadn’t appeared to be fundraising during the run, and certainly didn’t attempt to sell us tee-shirts or run plaques, which I’m sure we’d have all happily paid for if they had been available. The organisers did admit to me that it had all gone 'a bit pear shaped', they really don't know how the Mini community works, and had left everything until the last minute. Apparently the fundraising was due to be done at the celebrity bash at the nightclub in the evening - they were going to give out free shots of vodka and ask for donations. I don't know of any Mini people who went to it though, and I still haven’t heard back from the organisers about who actually attended and how much money they eventually raised. No doubt we'll find out at some time what happened!

I’ve since spoken to quite a lot of the people on the run, and they’re all looking forward to the next one, if they decide to try it again. With better organisation and advance publicity we could certainly bring London to a standstill!