Dubai vehicle plate '7' sold for Dh55 million

Auction raises nearly Dh98 million for Ramadan food appeal

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  Dubai number plate 7 sold for 55 million dirhams. All photos: Pawan Singh / The National

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  The charity auction was held in aid of the One Billion Meals Endowment campaign

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  The winner of the Dubai 7 number plate at the charity auction

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  The event was held at the Four Seasons Resort Dubai

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  Exclusive mobile numbers also went under the hammer

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  The bidding was tense

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  Special Dubai number plates were sold

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  Exclusive mobile numbers were also auctioned

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  Dubai number plate Q 22222 sold for 975,000 dirhams

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  An exclusive mobile number sold for 140,000 dirhams

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  The charity event attracted many bidders

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  Another mobile number sold for 125,000 dirhams

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  An exclusive mobile number sold for 2.3 million dirhams

A bidder paid Dh55 million for Dubai's number 7 number plate, in an auction that raised nearly Dh100 million ($27 million) for a Ramadan food appeal.

Sold plates included H31, W78, N41, AA19, AA22, X36, Z37, AA80 and more.

In total, Dh97,920,000 was raised from the sale of car plates and exclusive mobile phone numbers at the Four Seasons hotel in Jumeirah.

The event was organised by Emirates Auction, Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority, Etisalat and Du.

'P 7' topped the list after a bidding war between several people who wanted to break the existing record set in 2008, when a businessman paid Dh52.2 million for Abu Dhabi's number 1 plate.

The second highest number was AA22, which sold for Dh8.4m ($2.3m), followed by AA19 for Dh4.9 million ($1.34m).

Ten mobile phone numbers from Du and 11 phone numbers from Etisalat were also on offer.

Etisalat numbers went for more than Dh3.3m, with the number 971548888888 on top of the list, selling for Dh2.3m.

The 10 special mobile numbers from Du went for Dh3m.

All proceeds from the most noble numbers auction will go to the One Billion Meals campaign, which was launched to boost efforts to combat global hunger.

The One Billion Meals Endowment was launched by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, in line with the generous spirit of Ramadan.

It is the latest in a series of food drives held during Ramadan in recent years, but is taking a new approach to helping those in need.

Instead of donations being spent directly on food parcels, they will go into endowment funds from which financial returns will be spent on feeding the needy.

Last year, Dh111 million ($30.2 million) was raised at an Abu Dhabi auction in April 2022, held in support of the One Billion Meals campaign. Abu Dhabi's exclusive 2 car number plate sold for Dh23.3 million at the fund-raiser.

The One Billion Meals campaign, launched by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid to combat global hunger, received a major boost as a charity auction of rare licence plates and exclusive mobile phone numbers raised nearly Dh98 million ($26.6 million) in Dubai. Photo: UAE One Billion Meals Campaign / UAE Government Media Office