'No 1' plate goes for a record in UAE

ABU DHABI: Without batting an eyelid, a UAE businessman dished out a record 14 million dollars for a car licence plate at an charity auction in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday.

"It is not huge compared to my family's fortune," Saeed Abdel Ghaffar Khouri said after bidding 52.2 million dirhams (14.2 million dollars) for an Abu Dhabi licence plate bearing the single number "1".

"The price is fair. After all, who among us does not want to be number one," Khouri said.

Emirates Auction which organised the sale said on its website that it had been expected to set a new world record for the most expensive car licence plate in the world.

In May, another citizen of the oil-rich UAE spent more than five million dollars to buy a licence plate bearing the number "5".

Funds from the auction at an Abu Dhabi luxury hotel will be given to charities, including one that will set up a hospital for casualties from road accidents.

Buyers battled it out on Saturday for 90 low digit licence plates, spending a total of 89 million dirhams (about 24 million dollars), said Abdullah al-Mannaei of Emirates Auction.