License plates serve a simple purpose. They identify a car and help with all kinds of things, from stolen vehicle recovery to finding the right car in a parking lot. However, many people choose to personalize their license plates, and sometimes the chosen script can be rather entertaining. Sometimes, a license plate is chosen simply to show off. Other times, it's to make people feel bad about their achievements or lack thereof. For one BMW 5 Series owner, it seems that it was as a joke.

The owner of the E60 5 Series pictured below has had 'COVID19' applied to the car's plates, but then the car was left abandoned in an Adelaide airport and nobody could figure out why.

A worker at the Australian airport, Steven Spry, said that the car has been left at the airport since 'February or earlier'. Numerous theories abound, but the facts point to a pilot that couldn't get back home. Firstly, the car was parked in a staff lot. Because a 5 Series is not a particularly cheap car, the theory was that the car belongs to a staff member that earns well. Personalized plates can also be a little pricey at times. Thus, Mr. Spry says: "We seem to think it might be a long-haul pilot who has gone overseas and can't get back."

Spry continues by saying: 'It's a high-end vehicle so it's going to have to be someone on a fair dollar to get a vehicle like that, but you'd think a family member would have gone to get it.'

Now, however, a Snapchat user named Dan Parfitt spotted the car out on the road near the end of March, and his video that has since gone viral proves that the car hasn't been abandoned. Presumably, the owner of the car left it at the airport for some time while away on work, but has since returned and is using the car again. Why it was abandoned for so long or who the owner is are still mysteries, but this isn't a unique case in Australia, with other Coronavirus-related plates doing the rounds too.