Inside ex-Pimlico Plumbers boss’ fleet of vans with number plates worth £1.5m

THE founder of Pimlico Plumbers boasts a fleet of vans with personalised number plates – worth in excess of £1.5million.

Charlie Mullins – known for his Rod Stewart-style blond barnet – has invested niftily in the inscribed plates to get people talking about the plumbing empire.

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Pimlico Plumbers has the largest plumbing-related collection of number plates in the world – worth about £1.5million – with Mullins at one point forking out for a new bespoke plate once to twice a month.

It comes after the self-made millionaire managed to get his flash £450,000 Rolls-Royce stuck on a bollard.

While trying to make way for the other car, Charlie didn’t notice the obstruction and drove over it, exposing his personalised number plate ‘CII4RLE’ as amused pedestrians walked by.

The expensive motor then had to be removed by a breakdown truck.

Deep-pocketed Mullins had assembled a batch of motors with personalised plates under his premiership – at one point coughing up an eye-watering £35,000 for the sign ‘CA11 OUT’.

Other nifty cross-creations featured have included ‘MET3R’, ‘BAS 1N’, ’51 NKS’ and ‘DRA 1N’.

Mullins left school at 15 with no qualifications and became an apprentice, setting up Pimlico Plumbers in 1979 from an estate agent’s basement.

He sold Pimlico Plumbers last year and is currently pursuing a career as a media personality.

The entrepreneur recently completed a pilot episode for a show called Naked Millionaire, where he has to build a business from scratch.

It comes after one man revealed he earns over £200,000 a year doing a job others wince at.

Stephen Fry, 34, lives in millionaires’ playground Kensington, West London, and even goes on luxury holidays to the Maldives.