‘Billionaire’ learner whose Maserati was impounded says: I’ll just drive the Rolls!
WHEN police impounded learner driver Hamza Sheikh’s gold-plated but uninsured supercar, the 19-year-old self-styled billionaire shrugged it off as a minor inconvenience – and took to his Rolls-Royce instead.
Officers became suspicious when they saw L-plates on the £112,000 Maserati GranCabrio as Mr Sheikh and his security staff cruised through Kingston, South-West London.
They took his keys and impounded the car for two days. An officer posted a picture of the Maserati being taken away on Twitter, with the hashtag ‘#NoInsuranceNoCar’. But Mr Sheikh was unruffled, saying: ‘ I’ll just learn to drive in a Rolls-Royce with insurance.’ In fact, he has a number of luxury cars, worth a total of £1million, to choose from, including a Range Rover and a gold Lamborghini due to be delivered any day now.
‘I was not without a car – I drove my RollsRoyce with my security,’ he said. ‘I was just coming from completing my theory test when I was stopped.’
Mr Sheikh could be taken to court and face a fine of at least £300, with up to six penalty points on his provisional licence. These would carry over to his full licence when he gets it and because of strict laws on new drivers, he would lose the right to drive if he gets any more.
The Mayfair property developer, who studies business management at Regent’s University in the capital, said: ‘ 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.’
Mr Sheikh, who is originally from Pakistan, said the reason for his ‘error’ was that because of his ‘busy lifestyle’ he had missed a letter from his insurance company. He added that his Maserati is gold because ‘I am the golden child of my family’.
Mr Sheikh also fell foul of traffic rules in April when he received a parking ticket near Hyde Park.
His gold Maserati has plenty of competition, with hundreds of flashy cars flown to London by Middle Eastern visitors over summer.
A chrome Mercedes-Benz McLaren and silver Lamborghini Aventador were among the supercars spotted in the capital this month.