A Saudi-registered Rolls Royce worth almost £250,000 was removed from London’s Grosvenor Square as part of what the local council said was a crackdown on illegal parking.
Westminster City Council (WCC) said it had begun removing supercars parked in Mayfair following complaints from residents about guests at the Chancery Rosewood hotel.
The council said people staying at the hotel, on the site of the former US Embassy, had been parking their vehicles illegally on the pavement outside, and penalty charge notices (PCNs) had been ineffective.
The Chancery Rosewood hotel was contacted for comment.
The council said it used a relocation vehicle to pick up the blue Rolls Royce from Grosvenor Square and move it to another location several streets away.
Other cars parked on the footway outside the hotel were moved voluntarily on Tuesday by their owners, the council said.
Both WCC and Transport for London use private agencies to attempt to enforce payment of fines on European foreign-registered cars, but vehicles from other parts of the world prove more problematic.
A spokesperson for the council said “the usual approach of issuing PCNs have proven to be ineffective.
“The vehicles are foreign registered – the ones we photographed have Saudi numberplates – so the chances of recovering the costs are virtually nil.
“And the owners of the vehicles, which include Rolls Royce and Lamborghinis, are so wealthy that fines barely register.”
Max Sullivan, cabinet member for streets at the council, said: “Those on foot shouldn’t have to run a gauntlet of illegally and selfishly parked supercars when trying to walk around Westminster.
“We will not tolerate dangerous pavement parking, whether it’s a Lime bike or a Lamborghini.”
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