Joe Biden’s car was caught in traffic as the US president made his way to Westminster Abbey for the Queen’s funeral.
Footage shared on social media shows the armoured vehicle, nicknamed the Beast, held up outside a Pret a Manger restaurant near Marble Arch in Westminster shortly after 8am on Monday.
Joe Armitage, a 27-year-old political consultant, filmed the moment and said members of the public attempted to approach the car when it stopped but were halted by police.
“Everybody was aghast when the massive motorcade with half a dozen outriders came to a complete stop and the president of the United States came into view, just a metre away,” Mr Armitage, from London, told the PA news agency.
“People attempted to walk up to his window but were quickly ordered away.”
The motorcade, which included several security vehicles, was later filmed driving past Hyde Park before the US president’s arrival at Westminster Abbey shortly after 10am.
Mr Biden was travelling to the Queen’s funeral with his wife, First Lady Jill Biden, with whom he also attended the monarch’s lying in state on Sunday evening.
