People will put anything on eBay to make a fast buck. Even bits of crashed cars. OK, this particular auction was always likely to attract some added interest as it claimed to offer debris from last week’s car crash involving the 97-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth II.
More than 100 royal fans — or possibly collectors of oddities — bid as much as 66,000 British pounds (about $85,000) before eBay took down the auction.
The crash happened when Prince Philip’s Land Rover Freelander collided with a Kia vehicle last Thursday, January 17. Reports suggested he was pulling out onto a busy road when the smash occurred, sending his Land Rover rolling over. Somehow, he walked away unharmed.
But two female occupants of the Kia were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, while a third occupant, a nine-month-old boy, escaped unhurt.
Subsequent news reports showed broken parts of the Land Rover — including a side mirror, shattered glass, and various bits of plastic — strewn along the side of the road. Two days later, some of it showed up on eBay.
The seller, morbius777, insisted the parts were genuine, and promised to give the proceeds of the sale to charity.
“Prince Philip Car Crash Parts from the crash site,” the listing said, adding: “Condition is used. Parts are probably not reusable. Parts are clearly visible in many of the online videos of the event.”
Aiming to inject some humor into the listing in an effort to score a few more bids, the seller quipped: “May even have Phil’s DNA on it, if you wanted to clone him or anything.”
The description continued: “These items are not stolen, they have been left at the roadside for way too long. It amazes me that they weren’t cleaned up on the day. So, as opportunists do, I tidied them up.”
It didn’t take long for the unusual online auction to gain attention, with nearly 140 bids pushing the highest offer to 65,900 pounds before the item suddenly disappeared from the site
A spokesperson for eBay told the BBC it had decided to remove the listing in line with its policy “relating to the sale of any item that seeks to profit from human suffering or tragedy.”
