The world’s most expensive number plate sells for £12MILLION!

There are plenty of drivers in the UK who love a personalised number plate.

British motorists spend millions of pounds on them every year and the Treasury has cashed in on billions from private plate sales since their inception.

But one driver has just obliterated the highest amount paid for one, splashing out an incredible £12million on a very special Dubai plate.

The ‘7’ plate sold at a Dubai charity auction at the weekend for a record 55million Dirham – that’s around £5million more than the previous record held since 2008.

How much? An anonymous bidder forked out a massive £12million on the ‘7’ number plate in Dubai at a charity auction hosted on Saturday. It has sent a new world record for the amount paid for a private plate 

Emirates Auction sold the plate during the ‘Most Noble Numbers’ charity event hosted in Dubai on Saturday.

The ‘P – 7’ plate – which reads simply as ‘7’ in Dubai – has gazumped the 52.2million Dirham paid for the ‘5 – 1’ (which displays as ‘1’ in the city) number plate in 2008, which worked out at the time at £7.2million.

That previous record amount was paid by Dubai businessman Saeed Abdul Ghaffar Khouri and has been used on his Rolls-Royce Cullinan and Mercedes G-Wagen.

However, the identity of Saturday’s winning bidder has been kept anonymous.

Unless the buyer has an order placed on a £20million Rolls-Royce Boat Tail, which is the most expensive new car in the world, then the chances are that their latest purchase will cost more than the vehicle it is fixed to.

The record £12million is nothing in comparison to the highest figure paid for a car at auction, though.

That mind-boggling amount was achieved last year when an exceptionally rare 1955 Mercedes SLR 300 Uhlenhaut Coupe sold at a top-secret auction in Germany for a world record £115million. 

With ‘7’ considered lucky in many cultures around the world, this isn’t the first occasion where a driver has forked out a huge sum on a plate with that number. 

Back in 2016, a ‘7’ number plate sold for £2.96million in the United Arab Emirates. 

That same plate had changed hands only six years previous for £3million. 

The weekend sale now sees ‘P – 7’ top the global chart, with nine of the ten record highest prices paid for plates all in the UAE.

The ‘P – 7’ plate – which reads simply as ‘7’ in Dubai – has eclipsed the 52.2million Dirham paid for the ‘5 – 1’ (which displays as ‘1’) number plate in 2008, which worked out at the time at around £7.2million

Emirates Auction sold the plate during the ‘Most Noble Numbers’ charity event hosted in Dubai on Saturday

The charity auction of special number plates was organised to generate funds for the largest Ramadan sustainable food aid project

The charity auction event was part of the ‘1 Billion Meals Endowment’ campaign, launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to establish the largest Ramadan sustainable food aid endowment fund. 

In total, some £20.9million was raised from sale of a number of ‘special vehicle plates’. 

Speaking after the auction, Abdulla Matar Almannaei, chairman of Emirates Auction, said: ‘Breaking world records is always exhilarating, but breaking a world record while making a difference in people’s lives is truly priceless. 

‘The sale of plate number P – 7 for $15million [£12million] at the Most Noble Numbers charity auction is a testament to the generosity and commitment of our bidders towards supporting the ‘1 Billion Meals Endowment’ campaign. 

‘We at Emirates Auction are proud to have played a role in this achievement, and we look forward to continuing our support for charitable causes through innovative auction events.’

The record amount eclipsed the highest figures paid in the UK for private plates.

The currently known biggest amount forked out was in 2014 when a buyer spent £518,480 on plate ’25 0′.

With ‘7’ considered lucky in many cultures around the world, this isn’t the first occasion where a driver has forked out a huge sum on a number plate with that number

In total, some £20.9million was raised from sale of a number of ‘special vehicle plates’ at the charity auction on Saturday

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk