Teenager in trouble over L-plate Maserati
... what 19-year-old stopped for driving uninsured Maserati told the Standard
A SELF-STYLED teenage billionaire was undeterred when his £100,000 gold Maserati — complete with L-plates — was impounded by police.
“I’ll just learn to drive in my Rolls-Royce,” Hamza Sheikh, 19, told the Standard.
After the teenager was caught cruising through Kingston without insurance in the golden Maserati GranCabrio, it was impounded for two days. The driver was told he could be taken to court, where he would face a minimum £300 fine and six points on his licence.
But Mr Sheikh, who is originally from Pakistan, said losing the luxury car was not a problem as he has others worth a total of more than £1 million.
He told the Standard: “I have a RollsRoyce and a Range Rover. I am just waiting for my new gold Lamborghini to be delivered in the meantime. Since I was young I have been learning to drive in supercars — I’ve also learnt in a Porsche Panamera, so a Maserati is a piece of cake.” Police said the driver was pulled over because officers thought the car seemed very expensive for a learner to be driving. Pc Sebastian Ellis tweeted a photo of the vehicle being towed, saying: “#NoInsuranceNoCar.” But Mr Sheikh, a business management student at Regent’s University and a property developer, today said: “No Maserati, I’ll just learn to drive in a RollsRoyce with insurance. “I was informed by my staff that the police were watching my car for more than an hour. I have security with me wherever I go and I’m very happy that I’ve got my car back, but I was not without a car — I drove my Rolls-Royce with my security. “I am the golden child of my family, that’s why my car is gold. I was just coming from completing my theory test when I was stopped.
“I have a busy lifestyle and running a property business while studying is not easy. I missed a letter from my insurance company requesting key information which I was unaware of, so they were unable to effec tively update their records. This was the reason for the error.”
Pc Ellis said he was not aware if the case would be taken to court, but said: “Kingston police take a zero-tolerance approach to people that drive on the road without insurance in the borough, and will push for the strongest possible penalty.”
It is the second time Mr Sheikh has fallen foul of traffic regulations, after he received a parking ticket on the same car in April near Hyde Park. After the latest incident, he said he had to pay £500 to get his car returned. He said he had provided all the relevant information needed to his insurance c o mpany, ad d i n g : “I won’t b e in another situation like this again.”
In March, a fleet of gold-plated cars including a Lamborghini Aventador, a Mercedes G63 6x6 and a Bentley Flying Spur belonging to billionaire playboy Turki Bin Abdullah, 23, were spotted in Knightsbridge with parking tickets on their windscreens.
Mr Sheikh, of Mayfair, said: “I am a billionaire and when learning to drive in my Maserati I get a lot of jealousy, but if I have the money why not? Everything I have is because of my mother’s prayers and Allah.
“Jealousy is a mental cancer, please get treated.”
‘Jealousy is a mental cancer, please get treated’ Hamza Sheikh