Thai auction winner pays 225,000 dollars for lucky licence plate

Aug 25, 2011, 3:35 GMT

Bangkok - A government auction of licence plates has secured 6.75 million baht (225,000 dollars) for the auspicious number 9999, news reports said Thursday.

The unidentified winner completed payments on the licence plate this week to the Land Transport Department, which has not been so lucky in collecting payments on past auctions for the special number, the Bangkok Post newspaper reported.

Since 2006, the department had held annual auctions on unusual licence plate numbers, such as 1111, 8888 and 007, to raise money for its road safety fund, which is used to assist victims of car accidents.

The past five auctions have received bids ranging from 153,666 to 270,370 dollars for the 9999 plate, but the previous winners all failed to pay up.

Under the department's rules, winners must pay 10 per cent of their bid price on auction day and the rest in instalments before they get their plates.

This year's winner finally paid all the money Wednesday.

Nine is deemed a lucky number by Thais because it is a synonym for the expression 'gao-nah,' which means 'going forward.'