London, May 12 (IANS): Three Britons in their 20s have undertaken a record-breaking trip around the world in a cab, travelling over 43,000 miles (over 69,000 km) and putting 80,000 pounds (about $128,600) on the meter.

The three friends -- Paul Archer, 25, Leigh Purnell, 24, and Johno Ellison, 28 -- drove across four continents and 50 different countries in their trusty diesel motor, affectionately called Hannah, the Daily Express reported.

They had set out from London in February 2011 and returned home Thursday after completing their record-breaking trip. But the trio, from Birmingham's Aston University, had some bizarre experiences during their expedition.

They had to dig the taxi out of a snowdrift in the Arctic Circle, were arrested in Moscow for drinking in front of the Kremlin and received a personal pardon from the president of Moldova after failing to produce the correct documents.

The three even endured detention by the Iranian Secret Police. Paul, one of the trio, was even deported as a suspected spy.

They have already set a new Guinness World Record for the highest taxi journey after reaching 5,300 metres above sea level with Hannah at Mount Everest's base camp.

After crossing the finish line in Covent Garden, Guinness World Records is expected to confirm whether they have broken the record for the longest journey by taxi or not.

The current record -- 21,691 miles at a cost of 40,210 pounds -- is held by Britons Eremy Levine and Mark Aylett and Spaniard Carlos Arrese who travelled from London to Cape Town in 1994.

They slept in cheap hotels and hostels, planned to raise 20,000 pounds for the British Red Cross with a journey from London to Sydney but were 5,000 pounds short of their goal by the time they reached their destination.