Wimbledon parking permits sold

Residents living near the venue for the Wimbledon Championships have been copying and selling parking permits to tennis fans on the internet.

Wandsworth Council issued the permits to homes near the All England Club to allow friends and family to park in restricted areas during the tournament. But the council had to issue new ones after it discovered some residents had made numerous copies of the passes.

One was selling 17 passes on eBay and another was asking for £60 for a pair.

Residents' interests

A spokesman for Wandsworth Council said the passes were "a very, very simple piece of paper", which could be photocopied easily.

He said: "We spoke to eBay, but they wouldn't take them off.

"It's not strictly speaking illegal, but clearly it's unwelcome and we had to do something about it quickly to protect the interests of residents."

He said the council was not pursuing the matter with the police, because it is not known who is responsible for the selling of the permits on the internet.

"The areas in question are middle class areas, and there were lots of people trying to sell permits," he added.

New permits were delivered to homes this weekend along with a letter explaining the change.

The new passes, which are on a different coloured papers, carry a warning telling residents not to re-sell them.

The council said vehicles found with the old yellow permits would be issued with parking tickets and could be towed away.