Boy, 12, buys £300,000 number plate in Abu Dhabi auction

1111 for the road: A car number plate auction in Abu Dhabi raised millions for police charities

A twelve-year-old student has bought a car number plate for the equivalent of £300,000 ($400,000) in an auction held by Abu Dhabi police.

The boy paid 1.5m dirhams for the plate - numbered 1111 - in the auction of special registration plates intended to raise money for local police, The National newspaper reports.

According to the paper, Khalifa Al Mazrouei raised 500,000 dirhams of his own money which he won in a Quran recital competition, with the rest coming from his father.

The plate is likely to be mounted on the Mercedes car in which he rides to school, The National said. Unfortunately, he won't be able to drive the car legally for some years because the driving age remains at 18 years on Emirati roads.

Missing out on 1111 was Wadha Al Qaydi, one of the few women at the sale who saw the bidding sail past her not-immodest limit. In the end, she settled for 5550 for her red Rolls-Royce, at a comparatively budget price of 180,000 dirhams ($49,000, £37,000).

The auction room was mostly male motor enthusiasts, but at least one woman drove away with a new number plate

Number Two going, going, gone

The 1111 plate was not the most expensive at the sale, with a businessman buying the number 2 plate for 10m dirhams ($2.7m, £2m), Khaleej Times reports.

Justifying his purchase, Ahmed Al Marzuoqi told the paper that "I'm proud of my country and I want that money to go to charity. This is a year of giving, and the police will use the money from the sale of number plates to support the poor and needy people."

The sum is still one-third that paid last year for the exclusive 1 plate, which sold for 31m dirhams. This year's sale raised 55m dirhams ($15m, £11.2m) for Abu Dhabi's police, Khaleej Times noted.

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Reporting by Alistair Coleman

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