Kensington and Chelsea borough council has hit back with some strong words after a young millionaire claimed he considered double yellow lines to be 'VIP parking'.
Anyone with a license should know the meaning of double yellow lines - if you don't, you probably shouldn't have a license, or should at least brush up on your Highway Code.
The lines mean that there is 'no waiting at any time' - and that's a quote straight from the Highway Code's mouth - but 27-year-old Luke Desmaris apparently doesn't think that rule applies to him.
Desmaris claims to have a monthly salary of more than £100k thanks to a career in stock trading, and therefore apparently considers parking fines a small price to pay for the opportunity to slide into an open spot of along the pavement. Which, again, is open because parking isn't allowed.
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The 27-year-old is so confident in his actions that he even shared them online in a now-viral TikTok video, in which he returned to his £90,000 BMW to find a parking ticket and explained: "broke people see a fine, but I see VIP parking".
However, Desmaris' self-made rules have naturally been met with backlash from the local council, which told LADbible it wasn't happy with the driver's actions.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Kensington and Chelsea borough council commented: "Using double yellow lines to park is selfish and dangerous. Thankfully most people are not this irresponsible and do the right thing when finding somewhere to park which helps keep our streets safe.
"Yellow lines are there to keep traffic moving and ensure police, ambulances and fire engines are not blocked when they need to pass through. We'd much rather people parked legally and safely but where they don't we will continue to fine drivers and in particularly dangerous instances, we will remove the vehicle from the road."
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The council's response may throw a spanner in the works for Desmaris, who has explained that he sees parking on double yellow lines as 'saving [his] time'.
"It's the convenience of it," he said, though I can't imagine having to chase a car down a street as it gets towed away would be very convenient.
The driver has been hit with a lot of criticism from TikTok users after he shared his video, though he did receive some support from people who agreed with his beliefs about the ease of parking on double yellows.
Emily Brown