TYCOON Peter Waddell likes to tell the story of how Tom Cruise dropped by in his helicopter and offered to buy his £40million, 56-room mansion on 49 acres.
He says: “I paid him £10m and spent millions and millions of my hard-earned money on it. His agent asked if it was for sale. I said no.”
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Peter Waddell with his wife Gabby outside Holwood House, his historic mansion near Bromley, South LondonCredit: Arthur Edwards / The Sun
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From care home child to self-made multimillionaire businessman, Peter now flies his own helicopter Credit: Arthur Edwards / The Sun
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Peter even bought a £130,000 Ferrari 575 for his seven-year-old son, also called PeteCredit: Arthur Edwards / The Sun
In fact, 58-year-old Peter loves his dream home so much that he had an identikit mansion built in a row of Spanish billionaires in Puerto Banus, where Novak Djokovic and Simon Cowell are his neighbors.
He also owns 20 supercars worth more than £3 million — with their prestigious number plates worth another million.
And he recently paid £390,000 for a petrol-powered Rolls-Royce Wraith, forgetting he’d also ordered a £500,000 electric Roller.
When he’s not driving around in one of his supercars, he flies his own £4m Airbus EC130 helicopter with the call sign PJWW.
Not bad for a boy whose mother tried to kill him when he was just four years old and who grew up in a Scottish orphanage.
Peter, who is deaf and dyslexic, left council care at the age of 16 and after a year of rough life on the streets of Glasgow moved to London at the age of 17.
After starting his working life as a taxi driver, he went on to build Big Motoring World, Britain’s largest used car empire, selling 60,000 motors a year.
Today it is worth more than £500m after branching out into property and transport.
Security unit
He recently gave his younger son, Peter Junior, seven, a 24-year-old classic Ferrari 575 worth £130,000, which they drive around the estate.
A fabulous life of wealth is a far cry from his dreary childhood. Sitting in the huge kitchen of Holwood House, his historic mansion near Bromley in south London — a short helicopter hop from Biggin Hill Airport, and where children’s film Horrid Henry was filmed: The Movie from 2011 — Peter says: “I haven’t spoken to my mother in probably 50 years.”
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When I ask about her attack on him and whether she is still alive, he says, “I have no idea. I’m not interested. I think my mother had a nervous breakdown.
“She scarred me all over my body, tried to cut off my hands and smashed my head.
My best friend saw his father beheading his mother. The girl was sold to a pedophile ring when she was five years old
Peter Waddell on his time in care
“I remember being in the hospital for months. I was probably four or five.”
Peter ended up at a children’s home in Fairlie, North Ayrshire, run by the Scottish charity Quarriers.
He was placed in a safe unit of the home with other child victims of violence and he recalls: “My best friend saw his father cut off his mother’s head. The girl was sold to a pedophile ring when she was five years old.
“So these people, like me, were mostly disturbed. We were different, we were isolated in the home. I didn’t start school until I was about 12 years old.”
Children from the care home were taught at nearby Largs Academy, and Peter says: “The other children at school would have their big, beautiful pencil cases. We didn’t have money for pencil cases at home.
“The teacher would say: ‘Write down what you did with your parents during the summer holidays.’
“I would sit there and just watch. We didn’t have that kind of life. So you grow up thinking, ‘Why am I different from anyone else? Why didn’t my mother love me? Why didn’t my mother care? What have I done?’
“That’s the sad thing about growing up in a home. I’m dyslexic, I can’t write, I can’t spell and I’m stone deaf. You can’t change the past, but you can change the future — that’s what I did.”
After a rough life in Glasgow, he seized the opportunity to hit the road and seek his fortune.
It happened one night when the night bus driver left the door open and Peter sneaked onto the bus and hid behind a pile of suitcases.
He says: “I slept in a warm bus and ended up at Victoria bus station in London.”
Settling in, he found work at a nearby mini-taxi office that offered training for new drivers.
Peter recalls: “The first job I got, the man said, ‘Can you take me to Pall Mall?’ And I said, ‘If you show me the way, I’ll take you’. It took me about 35 minutes to get there and four hours to find my way back.”
Besides driving a taxi, Peter started selling a few cars off the road. He would use his credit card to buy a car at auction, sell it by the end of the month to avoid paying interest and keep the profit.
His big break came when he applied to buy his council flat in Catford, south London, under the government’s Right to Buy scheme.
As he had been in the care of the local authority since the age of four, the council agreed to give him a full discount under the scheme.
Peter says: “I was still only 22 but I had been in a council home for 17 years. I bought an apartment for something ridiculous, like 20 thousand.”
Having a mortgage and equity in the flat meant he could borrow a few thousand pounds to buy more cars.
He says: “I used to go to the auction on the red bus number 36. I would buy a car and bring it home.” I had an appointment with the guy at the BP garage.
“I’d get him coffee and McDonald’s, and he’d let me park under the lights to put the money in the car.
“Then I would take pictures with a Polaroid camera and sell the car in Auto Trader magazine.”
“Opportunity for growth”
His ambition was to sell 15 cars a month. But over the years the business, which specialized in high-mileage BMWs, expanded until it was selling 5,000 used vehicles a month from dealerships across southern England.
All the cars, bought at auctions, are inspected and prepared for sale at the £10 million ex-diesel factory in Peterborough, Cambs.
My life consisted of taking young people and giving them the opportunity to develop, because I never had that opportunity. I was completely dyslexic, unable to write and suffering from disabilities
Peter for giving people the opportunity to progress in life
The company employed 1,400 workers, most of whom Peter knew by name, and he says: “I worked from four in the morning until midnight, seven days a week./qu
“My life is not just about being a CEO sitting on a chair in an office.
“It wasn’t me. If work was to be done, I would do it. I even painted the doors in our prep center.
“I used to land in my helicopter and I would take all the staff to give them the experience of a lifetime.
“We built our business on being a family.
“My life consisted of taking young people and giving them the opportunity to grow, because I never had that opportunity. I was completely dyslexic, unable to write and suffering from a disability.”
He may be dyslexic, but his ability to read a balance sheet and see opportunity has made him mega rich. His property empire also includes an industrial estate, luxury apartments and car dealerships.
When one of his tenants – a transport company in Dover – couldn’t pay the rent because it was in trouble, he bought the company.
In three months, he turned the business around – renamed Big Transport – and doubled the fleet to 60 trucks.
Peter’s first marriage failed, and 14 years ago he met his current partner Gabby (40) in a pub in Portsmouth.
They now split their time between their British mansion and a nine-bedroom house in Spain.
Like Peter, Holwood House also has an interesting history as the site of the former home of Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger.
There, in 1787, under an oak tree on the sprawling grounds, Pitt and activist William Wilberforce swore to outlaw slavery.
And Peter is also fighting the biggest battle of his life.
In 2022, he sold a third of Big Motoring World to a private equity firm that sacked him after allegations of misconduct, including bullying and using racist language.
Peter vehemently denies these claims and the case will be heard in the High Court in early 2026.
He says: “I’m deaf and I speak loudly, but I’m not a bully, nor am I a racist.
“I’ve been a fighter all my life and I’ll fight this last battle – a billion percent.”
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Peter’s childhood was in stark contrast to his current life, having grown up in care. Credits: Submitted
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Peter loves his home so much that he had an identikit villa built in a row of Spanish billionaires in Puerto Banus, where his neighbors are Novak Djokovic and Simon CowellCredit: Supplied
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