New York Woman Fined Thousands Over Star Trek License Plate

How did a grandmother from New York get fined thousands of dollars over some random letters and numbers on her license plate? What makes the matter even stranger, is that she hasn't even owned the vehicle the plates were on for four years, according to WCSC. The license number wasn't even her choice.

It all reportedly had to do with a connection to one of Sci-Fi's most popular series. But according to The New York Post, the vanity plate wasn't even picked by her. The plates were chosen by her ex-husband, according to the New York Department of Motor Vehicles

New York Woman Fined Thousands Over Star Trek License Plate

Star Trek fans have long known that NCC-1701 is the the designation of the Starship Enterprise, which was widely seen in multiple television series, novels, games, and movies.

While the numbers don't necessarily violate any of the New York DMV's rather strict standards for vanity plates, the problem arose when other Trekkies across the country started using fake plates for their vehicles when they were "caught in driving infractions", according to The Post.

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It just so happened they were using NCC-1701 on their fake plates as well. Fake license plates such as these can be easily bought online at a number of websites, and then used to cover real ones.

Unfortunately, for the nearly-blind elderly woman from Huntington, all the tickets have been mailed to her address. According to The Post, she has received 194 tickets from infractions committed in New York City, as well as tickets from 23 other states.

The original story about the woman and all the tickets was featured on CBS News. An attorney volunteered his time to resolve the matter, after seeing the story. The Parking and Violations Bureau has since told CBS News New York it is moving to dismiss the 194 New York City tickets. The attorney told reporters he is now working to have the tickets from the 23 other states removed.

The problem continued for so long, because WCSC says that although the Department of Motor Vehicles claimed the woman was no longer attached to the old plates, her attorney's research determined her name and address were never actually removed.

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