I was born on roadside and now I'm Britain's richest gypsy worth £740m - here's secret to my success, says Alfie Best

BRITAIN'S richest gypsy Alfie Best is worth £740MILLION, has a fleet of enviable supercars, his own private helicopter and a swish Mediterranean yacht.

But his enormous wealth didn't emerge from thin air.

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The millionaire - set to be crowned the world's first gypsy billionaire next year if all goes to plan - was born in a caravan on a layby in Leicester.

Alfie was raised by his mum and dad in the ten-foot long motorhome.

But his childhood was a happy one, he tells The Sun.

Alfie said: "There was nothing wrong with how I was living - if I'm honest with you.

"I hear all these sob stories about how people were living hard lives.

"But they never fail to tell you that they knew know different.

"I didn't see anything wrong with the way I was brought up.

"Our kitchen was a cooking pan and a pot outside on an open fire. That was our cooking stove.

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"I thought there was nothing wrong with it. People pay to go camping. It's what you're used to.

"We lived in a small caravan, me, my dad and my mum. Three of us. By small I'm talking ten foot long.

"We always had food in the cupboard - but we'd go out with our lurcher dog and what we killed, we'd eat.

"I'm talking about pheasants, rabbits, hares. I'm going to be honest with you - it seems a lifetime away that didn't happen.

"This is becoming the real and that's becoming the surreal. You've got to be careful with that."

Alfie lived in that very same caravan for the first 15 years of his life.

From the age of eight he worked with his dad - also named Alfie - going door to door offering to tarmac homeowners' driveways.

Aged 13, he laid the tarmac on the mile-long drive leading to the stately home of a member of the Hambro banking family.

His first solo business venture was buying and selling an Escort van, raking in a £150 profit.

From then the budding businessman was hooked.

He managed to buy his first house for £63,000 aged just 17, while also starting up a business selling vans in East London.

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Now, he runs a residential park homes empire Wyldecrest Parks, which made £32MILLION last year alone.

And the secret to his rapid climb to 230 on the Sunday Times Rich List?

"If an idiot like me can slowly fulfil his goals, anybody can. Because I am not a gifted person.

"Persistence and hard work has allowed me to conquer each step of success. Am I successful? Absolutely not. Success is a journey.

"My top tips. Start, start, start. Be consistent and persistent and believe in what you're doing.

"Make sure that you are your best customer. Because if you're not, how can you expect any other customer to be.

"Never give up. I'm still working like I'm bankrupt. I'm working like it all ends tomorrow."

The millionaire's ethos is simple - he wants to offer affordable homes for as many people as he can.

He says: "What we do as a company is ground-breaking . What we're doing is creating better lives for people. Do we get it right all the time? No.

"Are we pleasing every one of our clients? No.

"But if I can please 90 per cent-plus then I'm happy with that.

"Park home living isn't for everybody. But I feel like I've been blessed with something that can genuinely change people's lives.

"And we are changing lives - 16,000 residents can't be wrong."

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