Derelicts’ purge to free 7,000 parking spaces
Stepping up its aggressive campaign to rid the congested streets of Athens of thousands of abandoned cars and motorcycles that take up valuable parking space, the capital’s municipal authority has decided to lease extra cranes to tow away derelict vehicles. With their aid, municipal officials hope by the end of this year to have freed some 7,000 parking spaces, which will be most welcome in densely populated areas such as Kypseli and Pangrati where free spaces in the street are practically non-existent and purchase of a private space can cost over 4,000 euros. So far this year, the city’s two cranes have towed away more than 4,000 derelict vehicles, while over the past four years 33,500 vehicles have been removed. If car owners fail to respond within a few weeks to a notice from the municipality, their vehicles are taken away and turned into scrap.
