The Summer of Supercars begins: High-powered multi-million-pound fleet of sports cars owned by Saudi billionaires descend on London - as police go on red alert for law-breaking

Daily Mail​

17 hours ago

Fleets of supercars driven by wealthy Saudi billionaires and international playboys have swarmed London - as police go on the offensive in a major crackdown on lawbreakers.
High-powered luxury motors have been seen revving their engines through some of the capital's most exclusive areas, home to millionaire tycoons, celebrities, sports stars and business moguls.
Rich tourists travelling from abroad have been arriving in the city to lap up the summer, paying a small fortune to fly in their flash cars to ride around the likes of Knightsbridge, Kensington, Westminster and Chelsea.
However, some of those owners jetting in from overseas have seen their motors nabbed by police within a matter of hours as part of a huge sting targeting those flouting insurance rules.
The seized vehicles signal the start of the city's 'supercar season', when wealthy Arabs flee the scorching hot temperatures of the Middle East and cruise around the capital in their extravagant vehicles.
Over the weekend, dozens of supercars worth around £7million were seized across Hyde Park, Kensington and Chelsea - with some slapped with bright 'no insurance - seized by police' signs on their windshields.
Two identical purple Lamborghinis- which were uninsured and had been flown into Britain for their owner's summer trip - were also impounded.
One of the two drivers had been in Britain for just two hours, and behind the wheel for only 15 minutes, before being caught.
The arrival of the luxury motors has become a regular event in recent years, with rich Kuwaitis, Saudis and Emiratis seeking to out-do each with their souped-up vehicles.
They are often spotted waiting in gridlocked traffic in some of central London's most popular areas or parked up outside designer shops and luxury boutiques, including Harrods.
It is thought owners pay in excess of £20,000 to fly their vehicles around 3,000 miles to London. Qatar Airways is one of the operators that facilitates the transportation, with airport staff securing vehicles to the floor of the relevant aircraft before flight.
However, the fleets of high-end motors racing through the capital's historic roads at all hours of the day and night have previously caused a headache for locals.
In places like Kensington, mega-rich owners shamelessly flout parking rules by leaving their fancy cars in the road without paying for the privilege.
Fed-up councils have previously deployed armies of traffic wardens and tow-trucks to tackle luxury supercars left in disabled bays on yellow lines.
The car owners, many believed to be from the Middle East, are likely unbothered by the £110-£160 parking fines in the likes of Kensington - having already splashed out a small fortune to import their swanky machines into the UK.
Other instances have seen police being scrambled to tackle nuisance drivers as they loudly rev the engines of their high-powered cars through the city into the early hours.
Police are seen targeting London's millionaire boy racers during an operating in Kensington
In 2020, some 18 officers were called out to Kensington to target millionaire boy racers as their charged through the exclusive borough.
Officers found cars with missing number plates as they issued warnings for loud exhausts and anti-social driving after a number of calls were made to 999.
A Lamborghini, Porsche, and high-power BMWs were among a number of the motors stopped on the popular shopping street in a bid to cut down the racing.
For other supercar tourists, jetting into London offers them a way to flaunt their expensive fleet of motors.
One young Saudi billionaire - thought to be in his twenties - is often seen cruising around London in his ostentatious fleet of gold supercars worth more than £1million.
The uber-rich visitor, dubbed one of Britain's flashiest tourists, regularly flies in his gaudy fleet of motors seemingly to avoid using public transport to get around.
His flashy collection includes a £370,00 Mercedes G63, a six-wheel off-roader, a Bentley Flying Spur, worth £220,000, a £350,000 Rolls-Royce and a £350,000 Lamborghini Aventador SV.
The Saudi's fleet of high-end gold sports cars are thought to be worth more than £1million
All the vehicles are wrapped in a vinyl gold, which is thought to cost about £4,000 a car, and are often seen outside some of the capital's most opulent haunts.
Among them includes the five-star Mandarin Oriental hotel near Hyde Park and Cadogan Place, where the average house price is just over £9.2million.
His motors have previously been seen with parking tickets slapped on their windscreen after illegally being left outside the Jumeirah Hotel in fashionable Knightsbridge.
As part of their effort to try and stamp out the number of nuisance supercars plaguing London, the Metropolitan Police deployed 75 officers to hunt out rule breakers last week.
The crackdown by Scotland Yard came amid reports of anti-social and dangerous driving, alongside drivers being a 'nuisance' across hotspot areas of London.
The operation, led by the Met, was supported by the Motor Insurers' Bureau (MIB) - which said several of the seized cars had been brought into the UK from abroad.
Many of these vehicles' drivers had been relying on motor insurance from the home countries and failed to verify if those policies provided valid coverage in Britain - leading to the cars being impounded by cops, with 72 seized in all.
The small army of cops used everything from automatic number plate recognition - or ANPR for short - to predictive vehicle movement tracking and vehicle markers to track down luxury cars without the right insurance.
Officers also detected a range of other criminal activity in their crackdown.
This included individuals wanted for actual bodily harm and criminal damage, for drug offences, vehicle theft, immigration offences and for fraudulent insurance policies, known as 'ghost broking'.
Cops also handed out countless tickets for a range of other crimes , including driving without a valid licence, using a mobile phone while driving, and failing to have a valid MoT.
A previous clampdown by the Met Police in August last year saw a haul of supercars worth £6million seized as boy racers were accused of using London as 'their own personal racetrack'.
Extravagant vehicles including McClarens, Bentleys, Rolls-Royces, Ferraris and Lamborghinis were among the 60-strong collection confiscated by Scotland Yard.
It came after concerns had been raised about the streets of central London becoming more like 'racetracks' - prompting officers to swoop into action.
Metropolitan Police Special Inspector Geoff Tatman said: 'The Met is working to put communities first - listening to and tackling their concerns.
'This hugely successful operation has proved we are dealing with those crimes, such as anti-social driving, that is causing most distress to residents and tourists.'
He insisted officers were 'doubling down on crime on the roads' as he praised the 'hard work and dedication' of Scotland Yard's volunteer special constables.
Insp Tatman described them as playing 'a vital role in our mission to make London safer' as they 'kindly give up their free time to help serve the community'.
Council chiefs suggested similar further moves could lie ahead.
Paul Dimoldenberg, Westminster council's lord mayor, previously lambasted wealthy motorists for deliberately ignoring road rules.
Parking enforcement officers from Westminster Council are seen issuing fines after two luxury cars were parked illegally
'People who think it is okay to use our roads as their own private racetrack late at night are not welcome in Westminster,' he said last year during his time as the council's city management boss.
'The noise and dangerous driving from these boy racers is often worse during the summer, so I welcome these results from the enforcement work.'
Speaking of this week's supercar seizures, Special Chief Officer James Deller from the Met Police, said the operation was part of the force's effort to tackle anti-social behaviour.
He added: 'This operation was set up to respond to resident, business and visitors' concerns about high-value vehicles causing a nuisance in known hotspot areas in central and west London.'
SCO Deller insisted the crackdown had been a 'real success' in helping to educate drivers and enforce the law.
Further joint operations between the Met and MIB are planned later this year.