I went from sleeping on a bus to a 56-room mansion: Car gross sales tycoon battled little one abuse and poverty earlier than incomes £500m fortune – however now he faces one other battle… together with his native council

Along the incredible rags-to-riches journey that has taken Peter Waddell from a childhood in care to becoming a £500m car sales tycoon, he’s never backed down from a fight.

And now the founder of Big Motoring World has won a drawn-out battle with planners to build a huge showroom at his historic £20million mansion – complete with a car turntable to show off his collection of supercars.

Waddell’s 56-room Grade I-listed pile, Holwood House, near Bromley, south-east London, is steeped in history and boasts a swimming pool complex, two gyms, a cinema, music room and tennis court, all set in 50 acres of parkland.

But despite his lavish lifestyle, Waddell, 58, once lived rough and suffered an appalling childhood of abuse and neglect.

The businessman, who is deaf and dyslexic, was just four when his mother tried to kill him and grew up in a children’s home in Fairlie, North Ayrshire, after spending months in hospital.

He recalled recently: ‘She scarred my whole body, attempted to cut my hands off and smashed my head.’

He was housed in the home’s secure unit with other child victims of violence, and recalled: ‘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.’

He left council care at 16 and lived rough on the streets of Glasgow for a year before moving to London.

After starting his working life as a taxi driver, he went on to build Big Motoring World , Britain’s biggest second-hand car empire, selling 60,000 motors a year.

The business is now worth £500million after branching out into property and haulage.

Waddell bought Holwood House in 2015 and has since lodged a string of planning applications.

The property was the site of the former home of Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger where in 1787 he and campaigner William Wilberforce vowed to outlaw slavery.

Years later, Charles Darwin was a regular visitor and later still, Sir Winston Churchill.

Much more recently, Tom Cruise even dropped in by helicopter and was so impressed he offered to buy the Grade I listed house – though it was a mission impossible because Waddell refused to sell.

He loves the home so much he has built an identical mansion on Spain’s billionaire’s row in Puerto Banus, where neighbours include Novak Djokovic and Simon Cowell.

Now he wants to build a garage extension at Holwood for his £3million collection of 20 motors including a Ferrari 575 and a Rolls Royce Wraith, with a basement car lift and games room.

Officials at the local council refused to give the green light, saying it was ‘inappropriate’ development on green belt land and a ‘disproportionate’ addition.

The used car dealer appealed to a government planning inspector and has now finally been granted permission after he scrapped plans for an underground bowling alley.

In his report, the inspector said: ‘Overall, I find that the additions proposed would be modest in relative scale and that the bulk and mass of the development would be understated and unobtrusive against the building.

‘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.’

Holwood is described by estate agents as ‘one of the most important and historic houses in private hands with a rich, diverse and distinguished history’.

It boasts a stately entrance hall, inner hall, basement entertainment room, two gyms, a games room, wine cellar, study and powder room.

The sprawling 15-bay Grecian-style villa, built in 1825, also features a swimming pool, two saunas, a steam room, wet lounge, nursery, library and four-bedroom staff wing.

Original period features of the 26,060 sq.ft white brick and Portland stone building include parquet flooring, domed ceilings, open fireplaces and ornate cornicing.

Outside there is an historic Grade II listed walled garden, Edwardian pavilion and orangery, summerhouse and water fountain.

It was on May 12, 1787, under a large oak tree at Holwood that Prime Minister Pitt the Younger urged politician and philanthropist William Wilberforce to put forward a motion in Parliament to abolish the slave trade.

Charles Darwin is also believed to have picnicked in the parkland and conducted experiments within the grounds of the house which lies near an Iron Age hillfort called Caesar’s Camp, a designated ancient scheduled monument.

During the Second World War, the daughter-in-law of the 17th Earl of Derby and wife of Lord Edward Stanley regularly invited Winston Churchill to dine at Holwood.

It was then under threat of bombing due to its close proximity to Biggin Hill aerodrome, and the 2011 kids’ film Horrid Henry: The Movie was also shot there.

The existing garage currently has spaces for just four cars but Waddell wants to increase it to 16. He also owns a £4million Airbus EC130 helicopter with the call sign PJWW made up of his initials.

In a design statement, his planning agent said: ‘The client wants to extend the garage to store additional cars at the site without having them outside on show and therefore detracting from the parkland and gardens.

‘We note that the site owner has a diverse and valuable car collection. This relates to the fact that the applicant is the owner of the largest car sales business nationally.

‘The applicant does as stated have several personal vehicles and, as such, requires additional space to store these.

‘The owner of the property has a desire to invest significantly in the property and gardens including landscaping the gardens, maintaining the existing house and extending the existing garage.’

In a letter of support, a neighbour wrote: ‘I am of the view that for older buildings to survive, they must support living in the modern context. The use and storage of motor vehicles is very much a factor of modern life.

‘If Holwood House is to continue to enjoy occupancy, it must be upgraded and maintained so as to support modern living.’

Building work on the garage extension is expected to start in March and be completed in September.