UK Edition
China driver splurges £100,000 on ‘lucky’ number plate - then stopped eight times by police
A Chinese motorist said life behind the wheel of his £3,000 truck has been made a misery after he splurged more than £100,000 on a "lucky" number plate, as police constantly pull him over to check it isn't fake.
The driver, who was named as Mr Zhou by Chinese media, believed he would be blessed with good fortune on the road after he invested one million yuan (£113,000) on a plate which bears five lucky number eights.
But his plan backfired when police stopped him eight times on the first day he took his GM pickup truck out on the road, as they believed the plate was not authentic, reports in China say.
Superstitious Chinese often spend huge amounts on lucky number plates, but they are commonly placed on expensive cars.
In Chinese culture, eight is considered the luckiest number of all as it sounds like the word “prosperity” in mandarin.
"Police would see me and then wave to me pull over,” Mr Zhou said, according to web portal Netease.
“I ended up being stopped for longer periods than I was actually driving,” said the motorist, from the central city of Zhengzhou.
He said crowds of people would stop to take pictures of his vehicle when he was being questioned by police, meaning it would take about half an hour each time he was pulled over.
“It has caused so much trouble," he added.
Mr Zhou said he spent more than thirty times the amount he paid for his truck on his number plate as he believed the value would increase much more than his vehicle.
The number four, however, is considered to be unlucky as it sounds like “death” in mandarin. Many buildings do not have a fourth or fourteenth floor in China.
Additional reporting by Katherine Zhao