Sinclair calls for electric incentive

FREE parking for electric cars should be introduced in London to curb soaring levels of pollution, the inventor Sir Clive Sinclair told MPs last night. Motorists needed an incentive to give up traditional methods of driving and the Government should take radical action to reduce the harm caused by fuel emissions, he said. Sir Clive, who plans to market a short-range electric car worldwide by 1998, warned the Commons Transport Select Committee, which is holding an enquiry into transport-related pollution in London, about plans to reduce emissions to 1970 levels by 2010. "It was awful then," he said. "A patchwork" of solutions would not solve the potential problems of pollution. "We need to give whatever incentives we can to bring electric cars in."

Sir Clive, who is marketing an electric power-assisted bicycle, the Zike, said that there should also be a ban on fuel-dependent vehicles in large cities.