Millennium wheel has Paris in a spin
The future of the millennium wheel in the heart of Paris is to be settled by a court after the owner defied an order from the mayor to dismantle it.
A hearing has been set for Friday and the mayor of the French capital, Bertrand Delanoe, wants the operator of the near 300 ft high ferris wheel to be fined €15,000 (£11,800) for every day it remains in place.
The popular tourist attraction was erected two years ago in the Tuileries Garden, just off the Place de la Concorde, as part of the city’s celebration of the new millennium.
The company was able last year to prolong its right to maintain the ferris wheel in place. However, its presence inspired protests by Parisians who complained that it ruined the historic view from the Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe.
The head of the company operating the ferris wheel, Marcel Campion says he signed for two years on the site with a third at an equivalent location, and has counter sued for non-respect of contracts.
