Taiwan public helps pay £300 000 repair bill after driver crashes into four Ferraris

The cost to repair the yellow Ferrari was estimated at 3.5 million Taiwan dollars (£90,000)

A Taiwanese man who drove a delivery van into a row of four parked Ferraris has had some of the repair bill paid by members of the public.

Lin Chin-hsiang, 20, who had been working all night, fell asleep at the wheel while making a delivery for his family’s paper firm early on Sunday morning. He was facing a repair bill estimated by local media at 12m Taiwan dollars (£309,000), as his family’s vehicle insurance policy only covers injuries not damages.

With a monthly salary of 35,000 Taiwan dollars (£900), it would take Mr Lin 28 years to pay the full cost of the repairs. But he has been spared that daunting hardship by well-wishing Taiwanese who were gripped by his predicament.

It is reported more than 100 donations have been made, raising around 740,000 Taiwan dollars (£19,000). Mr Lin’s situation is typical of many low-income families on the island struggling to make ends meet.

He dropped out of college earlier this year to help his mother with the family business selling incense and gold paper money (burned during worship) in New Taipei City. His father died from an illness a few years ago.

He also works night shifts at a barbecue restaurant and, after finishing at 3am on Sunday, he returned home to find his mother feeling unwell and decided to help her deliver an order to a nearby temple in time for a ceremony.

It was around 5.40am when, exhausted from working all night, he fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into the Ferraris.

According to Taiwanese media, the Nissan van hit a yellow Ferrari 488 and a white Ferrari F12, causing a blue Ferrari to bump into a red one. The yellow sports car was left with a gash on its left and its side mirror knocked off, causing damage estimated at 3.5m Taiwan dollars (£90,000).

The F12 suffered a large dent to its rear, which would cost around five million Taiwan dollars (£128,000) to fix. The other two vehicles were not badly damaged. The luxury cars belonged to a group of friends who were standing nearby and were uninjured.

Police said Mr Lin had not been drinking alcohol and had a clean driving record. Dozens of people called the local police station handling the accident and offered to donate money to help pay Mr Lin’s repair bill or his legal fees.

Some of them even turned up at the family’s shop – a shack made of sheet metal, which also serves as their home.

The local authorities have asked people who want to help Mr Lin to direct their funds to an official account. – news.sky.com