- Vishnu Vijayadharan sold Polaroid photos to tourists in London for 5 pounds each
- He earned about 11 pounds in under 10 minutes before police intervened
- UK rules require council permission for street trading, which he lacked
Vishnu Vijayadharan, an Indian-origin man in London, briefly turned a quick street hustle into Rs 1,200 in under 10 minutes, only to be stopped by authorities moments later. In an Instagram video, he is seen approaching tourists in a busy central London area to take their Polaroid picture and sell it to them for 5 pounds (around Rs 644). "Let's see how much money we can make by selling Polaroid pictures in London," he said in the video. A Polaroid picture is a type of instant photograph produced by a Polaroid camera.
"How Much we Made in 10 mins?" he wrote as the caption of the video. "Only try if your visa is expiring tomorrow hahahah," he jokingly added.
Watch the video here:
In the video, he revealed that he spent 163,110 pounds (around Rs 14,000) to buy the Kodak camera, which can take 38 pictures in a row.
The video shows several tourists approaching him for photos. "At that point, I genuinely started thinking we were gonna make millions, but our next customer turned out to be the police," he said.
He managed to earn around 11 pounds before police and city enforcement officers intervened, as UK rules restrict unlicensed street trading and certain solicitation in public spaces.
"Apparently, we were supposed to take permission from the council to do this, and I had no idea about it," he said.
"But if you have permission from the council, you can easily make 100 pounds an hour here," he added.
Social Media Reaction
With over 272,000 views, the story has since done the rounds on social media, with many sharing their opinions. "People who hate on him need to get a life... Man, he is a creator who comes up with all these new ideas that're engaging and entertaining at the same time... we need more people like him," one user wrote in the comment section.
"Take permission and do it as a side hustle, bro... You probably will make more money than 9-5," another added.
"Did you have to pay a fine?" a third asked.
