It’s often said the rules don’t apply to the rich, and 27-year old Luke Desmaris is portraying himself as the living embodiment of that.
According to various reports, Desmaris has racked up at least 100 tickets in the past year by illegally parking his BMW M4 on the streets of London. However, this was no accident as he proclaimed “broke people see a fine, but I see VIP parking.”
The Sun reports fines from the tickets totaled over £7,000 ($8,131 / €8,157) in the last year alone, but it isn’t an issue for him as “money doesn’t matter.” The publication also said Desmaris claims he makes over £100,000 ($116,165 / €116,577) per month doing online trading.
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@mrlukedes VIP parking #rich #foryoupage ♬ AirplaneMode – BONES
While parking in London is a nightmare, Desmaris reportedly said “I’m not blocking anything or doing anything wrong,” apart from parking illegally.
We’re taking all of this with a grain of salt, as this sounds like a stupid ‘flex’ we’ve heard before, but it does bring up an interesting point. While a $150 (£129 / €150) parking ticket might be enough to dissuade someone making $50,000 (£43,053 / €50,177) a year from parking illegally, that fine doesn’t have the same sting on someone making $500,000 (£430,570 / €501,775) or more annually. It also goes without saying, if you’re already going to have to pay for parking, why not pay a little extra to get a better parking spot.
While that’s playing devil’s advocate and assuming your car isn’t towed, the reaction online has been mixed and a few people admitted to doing it themselves. However, others suggested that fines should be income-based so they hit wallets equally. That’s how fines are levied in some countries and we’ve seen six-figure speed tickets in the past.