‘My mum tried to kill me and I ended up homeless – then I constructed £500m fortune’
After becoming homeless at 16, Peter Waddell fought to build his fortune. He’s now won his latest battle – to build a mega-garage for his Ferrari
A self-made multi-millionaire who grew up in care after his own mum tried to kill him when he was just four years old ended up sleeping rough – but fought back to built a £500million fortune.
Now, used car tycoon Peter Waddell has just won another battle – this time with his local council. The 58-year-old, who is deaf and dyslexic, has forced through plans to build a massive showroom at his £20m mansion to house his impressive collection of flash supercars, despite objections from planners.
Since 2015, Peter has lived at the Grade I Listed Holwood House, near Bromley, south east London. The opulent property has 56 rooms and includes a swimming pool, gyms, cinema and tennis court. It was home to Prime Minister William Pitt in the late 18th Century and has been visited by the likes of biologist Charles Darwin, wartime PM Winston Churchill and more recently, Hollywood megastar Tom Cruise.
But Peter’s life wasn’t always so comfortable. He was born into a life of neglect and abuse, revealing he was just four when his mum tried to kill him. He told the Mail: “She scarred my whole body, attempted to cut my hands off and smashed my head.”
He spent months in hospital before being moved to a children’s home in Fairlie, North Ayrshire, Scotland. He stayed in care for 12 years then ended up sleeping rough on the streets of Glasgow for a harrowing 12 months.
Opening up about his early life ordeal, he said: “My best friend saw his father cut off his mother’s head. A girl was sold to a paedophile ring when she was five. You can’t change the past but you can change the future, so that’s what I did.”
And change his past he most certainly did. After a stint as a taxi driver, Peter began to build an empire of his own as his firm, Big Motoring World, which he grew to become Britain’s largest second-hand car brand. It gave him a net worth of £500m.
More recently, Peter, who is no stranger to a fight, has been locked in a battle with the council over his plans for his new mega-garage, complete with giant turntable to parade his cars.
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The council initially blocked Peter’s plans for a new home for his £3m car collection, which includes a Ferrari 575 and Rolls-Royce Wraith, citing the development as “inappropriate” on green belt land.
But, after an appeal to the government planning inspector he has now been given the green light after he scrapped plans for an underground bowling alley.The report stated the extensions would be “modest in relative scale” and the development would be “unobtrusive against the building”.
The report added: “In my assessment, it would not result in disproportionate additions over and above the size of the original building and the proposal would accordingly comprise an exception to inappropriate development.
“The appeal building is a Grade I listed building, it is therefore recognised at the highest level of national significance, and I have had special regard to the desirability of preserving the building, its setting or any features of special architectural or historic interest which it possesses.”
