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Koo Stark's fury over £7,500 in parking fines - for eco-car she thought was exempt
Last updated at 12:37pm on 24.06.07
Anger: Ms Stark has amassed more than 50 tickets
Ms Stark, who once had a relationship with Prince Andrew, says she was told her hybrid Toyota Prius was exempt from parking charges in Westminster, Central London, because of its green credentials.
Council officials, however, say they mistakenly classified the car as 100 per cent electric and that she is still liable for at least some of the £7,500 in unpaid fines.
Her car has been towed away several times and is held in a vehicle pound after 51-year-old Miss Stark accumulated more than 50 tickets.
She is now classed as a "persistent evader" by council chiefs.
But she says that she believed she did not have to pay parking fees, and cites as proof two letters she received when she challenged earlier fines with Westminster, on the grounds her Prius should be exempt.
The council waived the fines and told her: "After careful consideration of the points you have raised, I can advise you that the PCN [penalty charge notice] has been cancelled and you are no longer liable for the charge since the vehicle is electric."
Another letter two months later cancelled another ticket for the same reason. Ms Stark, now a photographer, took this as confirmation of her right to park at meters and in pay-and-display zones for free.
The council, however, says it made an "administrative error" by categorising the Prius, which combines an electric motor and a petrol engine, as being fully electric.
Only vehicles powered solely by electricity enjoy free parking in Westminster.
Ms Stark, who has breast cancer, has accused wardens of writing out parking tickets as they watched her unload shopping while temporarily parked on the single-yellow line outside her Knightsbridge house.
Because of her illness, doctors have told her not to lift heavy weights, but she says parking attendants ignore her pleas.
Another fine mess: Ms Stark plucks a ticket off her Prius last year
In a letter of complaint to the town hall, she also accuses staff at the pound in Park Lane of "leering" at her and her ten-year-old daughter Tatiana.
"I am a single mother with breast cancer and I receive about £20,000 a year to maintain my daughter, from which I have to meet all our expenses, including payments on the car, which is now impounded. I have little disposable income and cannot meet the charges I believed I was exempt from.
"The staff made comments about my daughter and my personal appearance, which although they were meant as complimentary, we found inappropriate and made us feel very alarmed. We were leered at. I complained to the car pound manager and left.
I feel I have been unfairly put into an impossible situation of debt. The whole situation has put me under an intolerable stress and pressure and has deeply upset me.
"I originally bought the Prius because London Mayor Ken Livingstone endorsed it as eco-friendly and to keep down the cost of running a car in London."
The £19,000 Prius is exempt from the Mayor's £8-a-day congestion charge, and Westminster gives free residents' parking permits to Prius drivers.
However, this permit allows them to park only in the relevant residents' bays for free, not in pay-and-display bays or at parking meters.
Westminster's parking chief Kevin Goad said: "In this instance, the motorist was incorrectly told that her vehicle was exempt from parking charges as it was electric. As a result, further penalty charges were incurred and the vehicle was removed to the pound.
"Given the circumstances, all outstanding penalty charge notices have been placed on hold. These will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
"We will also release the vehicle from the pound and waive the removal and storage charges. Any other parking tickets received will progress through the normal process."
Ms Stark, however, wants all the tickets to be torn up and has accused the council of "stealing" her car.
"They should cancel all the fines and charges immediately," she said. "I continued parking on the basis of two letters stating my car was exempt.
"If you are given advice by an official, you should be able to take that information at face value."
The baffling world of eco-friendly car fees
Many councils encourage eco-friendly motoring through parking discounts for vehicles with low carbon emissions.
Manchester City Council plans to offer "green" car drivers 25 per cent off annual season tickets for NCP car parks, and a similar scheme has recently been launched in Brighton.
But London offers the greatest benefits from owning an electric or hybrid car. In June 2003 there were just 49 electric cars in the capital.
By 2005 there were 1,278 and this figure could double by the end of this year.
One of the most popular is the tiny plastic G-Wiz, priced from £7,000.
London has 14,000 alternative-fuel cars, up from 1,800 in 2003. Hybrid and electric vehicles do not pay the £8-a-day congestion charge and many London boroughs charge gas-guzzlers more for residents' parking permits than low-emission vehicles.
In Hackney, parking permits for the electric Mega City, Piaggio Porter and Smart Car are free, while cars with engines under 1,200cc or hybrid systems pay £41, compared to £207 for a Jaguar XJ6 4.2L.
Westminster has free recharging points and free on-street parking for electric vehicles – but not gas-fuelled or hybrid cars.
Reader views (2)
Here's a sample of the latest views published. You can click view all to read all views that readers have sent in.
Although not perfect the hybrid goes a way toward cleaner vehicles, in the absence of current viable hydrogen technology Koo has chosen one of the better forms of vehicle to use - after all she is still much in a minority. I drive an alternatively fuelled dual fuel car but still in a minority of 1 in 100 or more in my workplace (a government department!)
It is typical that there are such a wide range of differing policies within different Local Authorities (note the similarity with recycling) as to how cleaner vehicle ownership should be encouraged. As with recycling and other initiatives, it simply leaves the public exasperated when they try to do the right thing and get penalised for it.
As the advice that the vehicle was exempt, come on Westminster, surely you can accept that you misled the resident in giving wrong advice. Better still why not now correct the situation by exempting such vehicles from the charge altogether or applying a lower rate band for such.
- Mike, Guildford. Surrey
Serves her right for owning such a daft car.
- Dave, Cornwall
16°c
