Posted on 07/31/2008 4:16:32 AM PDT by Past Your Eyes
A RICH Arab sent his Lamborghini on a 6,500-mile round trip to Britain for a service. The £190,000 supercar was put on a scheduled flight from Qatar to Heathrow – then flown BACK after the oil check.
Money was no object as the flight would have cost the owner – thought to be a Sheikh – around £20,000.
The move sparked fury from green campaigners.
An airport worker said: “This car doesn’t have a carbon footprint – more of a crater.”
The overall cost of sending the Lamborghini to London for the oil change would have cost more than £23,000.
His black-and-gold supercar costs £3,552 to service at an approved dealer – on top of the £20,000 to freight from Qatar to Britain.
The Murciélago LP640 – driven by Batman in movie The Dark Knight – arrived from the Middle Eastern country on Friday.
It cleared customs and was trucked to specialist mechanics in London for the service.
On Monday it was flown back 3,250 miles to the oil-rich state where it was collected by the owner.
A cargo handler at Heathrow blasted the car’s environmental damage.
He said: “It would have been far more efficient to fly mechanics out there.”
Horrifies It is another example of how rich people exploit and pollute the planet because of their money.”
She said the role of the super-wealthy in climate change was not properly recognised – while poor people were rapped for going on holiday.
Friends of the Earth’s transport campaigner Richard Dyer said: “Flying a car thousands of miles for a service is ludicrous when planes are one of the most polluting ways to transport goods. We urge the individual to get their car serviced closer to home.”
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But David Price, of Lamborghini Club UK, said: “If an owner wants to service his car in that way, it is his choice.
“I’m not surprised. Thankfully the age of excess in some areas continues.”
Lamborghini UK spokeswoman Juliet Jarvis said there could be “kudos” for a Middle Eastern owner in servicing a car in London.
She said the exclusive Italian brand had a network of authorised dealers around the world – and most cars were looked after in the country where they were bought.
But she added: “This sort of thing is not unheard of.”
Qatar Airways confirmed it carried the Lamborghini.
The cars are popular with celebs including Rod Stewart and David Beckham.
What a twit.
$7,000 for an oil change?
” Jenny Evans, of pressure group Plane Stupid, said: “This horrifies me.””
Well then I guess there ought to be a law. Where should we put that on the list? Before stop stoning women and stop honor killings, or after.
I guess the Greenies would rather that the Sheikh send his car back to the factory and Italian mechanics, instead of providing work for UK mechanics?
If it had been a rick sheik, he would have sent it First Class.
LMAO!!
Geeze...I would have done it for $3000.Plus airfare to/from Qatar...a 5 star hotel while there....a couple of brown eyed 20 year olds....
Yeah, but they vacuum under the driver's seat and top off the wiper fluid. And they don't mess with the stereo. More than worth it. I'd fly my Corolla over there, but it takes four days and I need it to get to work.
In the words of another, slightly more famous Brit, “Envy is the green eyed monster, sire, and doth mock the meat it feeds upon.”
Our gas money at work. Thanks to our enviro-nazis and their lapdog Democrats in Congress, who keep the 97% of the land in the USA off-limits to drilling so we keep Arab sheikhs rolling in oil revenue.
All those people who work at the airport and blast this guy’s “environmental damage” should be removed from their jobs or quit. Hypocrites.
I betcha he forgot his $ 2.50 off coupon at home also!
$7000 in oil money to change the oil
How large do you suppose the British Royal Family’s carbon footprint to be?
Multiple huge estates
Private 300 foot yacht
Multiple private aircraft
Who knows what else
He should adopt the Arianna Huffington defense and just say that air frieght flight was going to London anyway!
Of course, it helps if he can say it like Zsa Zsa Gabor...
How dare this rich Sheikh spend his money to put bread on my table!
Of course, since this is a British airport, the guy would probably have his featherbedded job whether or not there was any frieght to unload.
It just shocks me that this rich Sheikh did not poll the airport workers in London to determine whether or not he should send his car there for service...
Love the car. Hate the LEDs.
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