Nuisance value of the rich & famous

The Saudi royal family recently angered tourists by cordoning off a beach in the French Riviera. But as these cases reveal, the wealthy can afford to throw their weight around

Burnt out

It wouldn't be surprising if the Bowery Hotel in Manhattan were to have a staff memo that read: beware of flame-haired singer-songwriters. In 2012, an inebriated Florence Welch of the acclaimed Florence + The Hit Machine torched the room where she was staying. "I think I must have had about 17 Dirty Martinis," the singer later explained of the incident.

Facebook CEO's fortress

Mark Zuckerberg may want the whole world to open up on Facebook but his own home is a virtual fortress. In 2014, neighbours were hard pressed to find parking spots for 17 months near his San Francisco house in Dolores Heights, which was being fixed up. "It 's hard to talk about it without sounding whiny or like the wealthy need to be punished just because they have money," said one neighbour.

Traffic stop

Last month, Londoners driving to work on Brompton Road, Knightsbridge, were brought to a screeching halt by a nephew of Saudi billionaire racer, Yazeed Al-Rajhi, who blocked the road to get his £1m Porsche polished. Two men worked on the machine for one hour before commuters were allowed to go about their day. "It was comical and certainly stopped the general public as they walked by," one witness account said.

Revving it up

It's understood that one of the fastest men on the planet — Usain Bolt — must lead a racy life off the track. Good for Bolt but not so much for his neighbours in a Jamaican housing complex. Several of them were so riled by his wild partying ways that they took to Facebook to express their displeasure last month. "He takes his nasty behaviour with him everywhere. He's the ultimate party clown," one post said while another called him "the neighbour from hell".

Bieber on the prowl

If Bolt's neighbours think he's hell, wonder what they would have made of Justin Bieber in 2014 when he was wreaking havoc on all of Beverly Hills. From egging his neighbours' homes to drag racing in the middle of the night, the baby-faced singer was public enemy no 1 for a while because of his erratic behaviour. His atonement? A humiliating Comedy Central roast early this year where participants took turns pelting eggs at him.