UAE: Billionaire's D5 Rolls Royce Fined For Wrong Parking

The Indian businessman who hit the headlines last month after buying the prestigious D5 number plate for Dh33 million made headlines again this week after allegedly parking in a disabled parking space.

After a video circulated on social media showing Balwinder Sahni's D5-branded Rolls-Royce parked in the white rectangle of a disabled bay outside Aspen Tower on Shaikh Zayed Road, police fined his driver Dh1,000 and issued him four black points.

But Sahni has hit out at the accusations, saying he was not parked in the bay.

"The car was not parked in that spot, it was parked far away. I was at a meeting and had many bags carrying heavy catalogues so the driver pulled up for about 30 seconds so we could load the car."

Sahni shared pictures with Khaleej Times - with date marks of 14.41pm on October 22 - showing the security manager of the building posing with the car.

"This shows that my car was in fact parked in the correct parking bays. I respect the law but people should know the truth. It was just unfortunate that brief moment was videoed and misconstrued to the public."

And Sahni said he will not keep quiet when it comes to his rights.

"I actually filed a case against the person who uploaded the video with the police today. A person should not be uploading such videos. My number plate is creating a lot of interest and they are using it in a negative way. It is sad."

Lt Khamis Mattar Al Mazina, Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police confirmed that police did fine Sahni's driver.

He explained the decision was made after watching the video and added "no one is above the law" when it comes to such violations.

"The police officials do not look at the car number plate when performing such duties."

And if someone is parked incorrectly, fines will be issued, he said.

Balwinder Sahni however said, "the driver made an error in judgement and reversed into the handicapped parking slot, for which he was been reprimanded fairly by the authorities."

"I have always been a safe driver myself and am very respectful of RTA rules and regulations. I applaud the impartial manner in which RTA has dealt with this situation. It further endorses my unflinching faith in the system," he added. "While I am very happy having purchased this number plate, I have been saddened in situations where my integrity has been questioned."

"I hope people will exercise a bit more restraint before embarking on character assassination of a person who they hardly know anything about," he concluded.

Speaking about the fine, Sahni said he understands how the video looked, but said he was "adamant to argue the case".

"I felt so ashamed when the police called and asked about the incident because this is not something I would encourage anyone to do. I want to prove that the car was not parked there. I will be arguing the fine and will send on the evidence I have."

Be warned: Jail, Dh20,000 fine for tampering with car number plates

During the first six month of this year, the Dubai Police has registered 4,215 fines against people incorrectly parked against special needs parking bays and fire exits.

Following the installation of modern radars to capture images and videos of cars violating parking conditions, Dubai Police has received 12,431 traffic violations through its "We are all Police" program.

Colonel Jamal Al Banai, Deputy Director of the Dubai Traffic Department, said that the one who photographed the car should have sent the video to Dubai Police rather than circulate it on social media. He did, however, say that people should not park in special needs parking spots and noted that Dubai Police have installed four devices at shopping malls that monitor the parking spots warn people that they have 20 seconds to leave the space.