One of the most important tasks of the traffic police of any large city. Cars in double rows, speeding, parking in wrong places, etc. However, as reported by the British media, this task has intensified especially in the wealthiest area of London, where the great Saudi sheikhs and magnates pay attention to the insignificant amount of a parking fine, lower than the tip they leave to the waiter who parks their car.
In this context, the recent scene of a Saudi Rolls-Royce raised on a crane and that of a convoy of hypercars blocking the sidewalk in front of a luxury hotel summarizes well the fight that is being fought between the Westminster authorities and an elite that uses the street almost as a private garage.
London and the problem of Saudi supercars
In the Mayfair neighborhood, near the former US embassy, Westminster City Council has begun to act more harshly against luxury cars parked directly on the sidewalk next to the five-star hotel The Chancery Rosewood.
“The vehicles are registered abroad (the ones we photographed have Saudi registration plates), so the chances of recovering the costs are practically nil. The owners of the vehicles, which include Rolls Royces and Lamborghinis, are so rich that the fines have little effect,” said a spokesperson for Westminster City Council.
As explained by sources from the council to the British The Standardneighbors complained about wealthy guests parking their luxury cars on sidewalks “Pedestrians should not have to face a sea of illegally and selfishly parked supercars when trying to walk through Westminster.”
The response of the authorities has gone one step further and instead of continuing to accumulate fines that many millionaires do not even pay, they have chosen to remove the vehicles with a tow truck when they block the path of pedestrians.
Fuente: Westminster City Council
Recently, a Saudi Rolls-Royce valued at around $330,000 was removed with a crane and moved a few streets away, a scene that became an unprecedented urban spectacle for a few minutes, while also serving as a warning to boaters who decide to park their luxury cars in the wrong places.
The hypercar “sandwich” in front of the hotel
However, the joy was short-lived for traffic authorities. A few hours after that withdrawal, the sidewalk opposite the one where the Rolls-Royce retreat took place was once again filled with raised mobile phones, this time to photograph a convoy of four very special cars.
Two Bugatti Chirons parked in front of the door of the luxury hotel, flanked by a huge Mercedes-AMG G 63 6×6 and a Rolls-Royce Cullinan.
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The set, which occupied practically the entire pedestrian space, easily raised more than 9 million dollars on the pavement if the base prices of each model are added.
The Bugatti Chiron is announced with a starting Price of $2.5 million, including no customization, more than doubling its initial price. For its part, the Mercedes-AMG G63 6×6 hardly goes below a million dollars in the most exclusive second-hand market and the Rolls-Royce Cullinan starts at around $325,000 in its basic version.
Faced with such a display of supercars (and millions of them), the authorities preferred not to make any move and, this time, the tow truck did not appear.
A luxury that goes beyond the car: the “1 V” license plate
Beyond the value of the cars, there was a detail that went unnoticed by many pedestrians who could not help but raise their cell phones to capture the unprecedented moment to upload it to their social networks: the Saudi license plates, and in particular that of the white Bugatti Chiron that was part of that convoy of supercars.
His plate read only a number and a letter, “1 V”, an extremely rare format in Saudi Arabia and which is part of a lucrative market for personalized license plates managed by the Saudi General Directorate of Traffic through electronic auctions.
Just as published Gulf Newsin one of those auctions held on the government platform Absher, the “1 V” license plate reached a bid of over 10 million Saudi riyals, equivalent to approximately 2.3 million euros at the exchange rate, becoming one of the most expensive license plates ever auctioned.
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Behind this bid is Yazeed bin Mohammed Al Rajhi who, in addition to being a businessman and rally champion, is the son of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulaziz Al-Rajhi, co-founder of Banco Al Rajhi, one of the largest Islamic banks in the world.
Thus, the cost of that small metal rectangle is close to the price of the car, turning this license plate into a symbol of wealth, luxury and exclusivity almost as powerful as the Bugatti Chiron itself.
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Imagen | Westminster City Council, Bugatti
