British Tycoon Abandons $150K Maserati In London Car Pound After Racking Up Almost $10K In Fines

Bertrand Des Pallieres, millionaire UK businessman and manager of the SPQR hedge fund, racked up 65 congestion charge penalties and dozens of parking fines on his limited edition £80,000 ($158,600) Maserati GranSport without tax. His car was towed away from a square in Knightsbridge, West London, in late May and taken to a pound by a London towing company in a bid to get him pay up. But the 39-year-old chap failed for three months to get down to the tow lot to claim it – increasing the money he owed by £25 a day – until he found out the car was about to be auctioned due to an estimated £5,000 ($9,900) bill. So, what did Mr. Des Pallieres have to say about the incident? Well, he blames it on being "too busy." No, seriously — he really does:

"The truth is I was so busy I did not have time to deal with sorting the congestion charges, paying my road tax and getting my car out of the pound.

"I have been setting up a new business and, as you can imagine, it requires all my focus. I have been running around the world raising money for my fund and setting it up.

"When I left my previous job at Deutsche Bank, I lost my PA. She had always organised all of these domestic things for me. For a while I did not have a PA but now I have one, so this will get sorted out."

Hmm, sure, blame it on your assistant — or lack thereof. [via Telegraph.co.uk]