West End club promoter who wrecked hired £130,000 Lamborghini in 60 seconds 'couldn't handle it'

Club promoter Diyaa Lababidi lied about crashing the Lamborghini
Diyaa Lababidi
Ben Morgan3 February 2016

A West End promoter who wrote off a hired £130,000 Lamborghini after less than a minute behind the wheel today said: “I just couldn’t handle it.”

Diyaa Lababidi, 32, got in the driver’s seat of the Gallardo VRM to pose for photos at the launch of Drunch restaurant, off Oxford Street, in the early hours.

The Lebanese national, who does not hold a UK driving licence, “underestimated” the car’s power, slammed into steel bollards and sent them flying.

He then “panicked” and fled, leaving behind what Westminster magistrates’ court heard was a scene of “mangled steel and shattered glass”.

Today, Lababidi told the Standard: “It was a silly thing to do and it happened in less than a minute. It was never my intention for this to happen. It was so powerful it surprised me."

He was trying to attract passers-by to the launch night on July 27 last year when he was given the chance to get behind the wheel by a man who hired the car for the event.

He said: “When you see a beautiful woman in the street you want to ask for a photograph with her. If your friend has a Lamborghini and lets you sit in it, it’s the same and you will do it. It was a very beautiful car but I just couldn’t handle it.”

Malachy Pakenham, prosecuting, showed the court CCTV footage of the crash. He said: “The driver appears to have no control of the vehicle and wasn’t able to do anything about the speed.”

Stephanie Wookey, defending, said: “The unfortunate reality is that he was driving the vehicle for less than a minute. He had a stupid boyish desire to drive a fancy car and have a picture in it to promote his club.”

Lababidi, of Paddington, was given a suspended jail sentence of eight weeks for failing to report the crash and was disqualified from driving for six months for driving without insurance. Magistrates also ordered him to pay £714.13 to Westminster council for damage to the bollards, £85 prosecution costs and an £80 victim surcharge.

Chair of the bench Carol Mcintosh said: “You damaged property and you didn’t own up to it.”

Talal Alkassab, 38, from Holland Park, denied a charge of failing to provide information relating to the identification of the driver. He was released on bail to stand trial on April 1.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in