A fan of one of the greatest science fiction franchises of all time has been getting hit with traffic tickets that are meant for other people. A “Star Trek” fan’s love of the USS Enterprise has seen her receiving thousands of dollars worth of tickets even though she hasn’t driven her car in years and doesn’t even own the associated license plate anymore.
CBS New York reports on the strange situation involving 76-year old Beda Koorey. Koorey is an avid Star Trek fan — I get it, I’m a Trekkie as well — so much so that she got the Starship Enterprise’s registry number of NCC-1701 as her license plate. This was a big deal back when she still drove, but that’s not the case anymore as Korrey surrendered her plates and stopped driving back in 2020. “I don’t have a car. I don’t drive. Those plates were turned in,” she told CBS. Yet every time she goes to her mailbox she has a ticket inside. It’s all because Trekkies from all over the country have the same license plate, but not even real plates — they’re using novelty ones.
“They are persistent and they keep sending me tickets,” Koorey said.
Her old custom plates honored Star Trek and had the same number as the Starship Enterprise — NCC-1701.
However, for $15 on Amazon and eBay, some Trekkies have been easily replacing their real plates with the same novelty plates — and getting away with it.
Their accrued tickets from all over the country are being mailed to Koorey.
“Red light, speeding, parking, school zone,” she said, describing the types of tickets she receives.
She also gets hit with E-ZPass tolls.
“I got a phone call from Ohio, a police chief looking for plates because they were involved in a robbery,” Koorey said.
A simple Google search will bring up hundreds of results of the NCC-1701 plate from countless sources. They’re cheap too, with many examples going for as low as $10. Another problem seems to lie with New York’s Department of Motor Vehicles itself. The department told CBS that illegal novelty plates are something local police should be dealing with, and that “nothing in its system connects Koorey to her former plate.” Then, strangely, the department mentions that it’s up to each state and billing entity to make sure it is utilizing the most up-to-date New York DMV data. That’s an odd statement to make considering their own records aren’t up to date, as they’re still connecting Koorey to the Enterprise plates.
While this may all seem like a frustrating but somewhat funny matter, its been stressful for Koorey. She’s constantly receiving tickets. This is all made harder by the fact that she has both hearing and sight issues, and she can’t keep up with responding to them all. “I’ve run out of ink. I’ve run out of stamps,” Koorey told CBS. She says it’s frustrating getting thousands of dollars in tickets for something she has nothing to do with, saying “I can’t afford it. I’m on a fixed income. It all comes back to me, so the whole country has my name and address for tickets I don’t even owe.”
Luckily, Koorey’s story caught the attention of some New York lawmakers and lawyers. CBS reports several lawmakers have said they’re going to help Koorey, and a lawyer agreed to meet with her and work pro bono to get her out of the situation.
