9162 Parking ticket...

Hello guys,

I would like some advice regarding parking tickets...

Hypothetically speaking, if you have a UK registered, taxed and insured car and you park without using a disc orario and subsequently get a ticket, what would be the consequences of just ignoring the ticket?

On the back of the ticket it says (As I understand it) that if you wish to challenge the ticket you should await the documentation that will be sent to you. My example argument would be that I am waiting for the paperwork to arrive in order to challenge the ticket. If it doesn't arrive then surely that's not my fault?

I would especially like to hear from anyone with first hand experience of this. I know that many people's advice is 'Just pay it, it's not worth the hassle' and I understand that point of view...

On the other hand, if someone was holidaying from the UK, didn't understand the disc orario system, got a ticket, and ignored it, would the police actually bother to chase around Europe for €36?

I have a cousin who was a prison officer who used to come over to England from his native N.Ireland and if he got a parking ticket he would simply throw it away, as he knew they would never bother to follow it up. Perhaps this would be an option in this hypothetical case?

Please let me know what you think.

Category
Legal

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 03/27/2008 - 13:13

I don't know about your British car, but I've (inadvertently) got a couple of parking tickets on rental cars, one in Pisa and one in Lucca, and they weren't ever followed up.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 03/27/2008 - 13:18

well we were in Florence a couple of years ago and apparently drove down a street which had a No Drive Zone after 6.00p.m went home around 3 months later got a ticket from the Italian police, decided to file it under B1N .. huh then about 2 months after that got another .. this time double the fine.. so its up to you .. i think we were just un lucky, but we were in a hire car.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 03/27/2008 - 15:23

A few years ago you would of got away with it , not sure know though things have got easier to chase and as mentioned they just keep doubling it.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 03/27/2008 - 15:27

[quote=Steve Graham;86213]I don't know about your British car, but I've (inadvertently) got a couple of parking tickets on rental cars, one in Pisa and one in Lucca, and they weren't ever followed up.[/quote] This used to be true, but from what I've been reading on the Slow Travel message board the police are now sending the tickets to the car rental agencies who in turn usually just charge it to the credit card used for the rental. Tickets seem to be finding their way back to people who never would have received one in past years, so I'd say be careful!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 03/29/2008 - 11:56

Hello, thanks for the feedback so far.

I can understand them sending tickets to rental agencies but has anybody heard of an Italian ticket being sent to a UK address?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 03/29/2008 - 16:02

If they see an English plate they will just tow it, so you have to pay the fine in order to get the car back. If its a hire then the hire company get the fine.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 03/29/2008 - 16:08

I have never seen any car 'towed' - though in a big city it might happen!
Anyway, clearly barrov didn't get towed away. I would be totally pragmatic about this. If got a ticket on my UK reg car close to where I lived (or regularly visited my holiday home) with said car, I would pay it, because you can bet your bottom dollar the Polizia Municipale know where that car lives in Italy. If I was visiting somewhere more than 20km away from 'home' I would bin the ticket. Just my view!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 03/29/2008 - 16:18

In 2005 my son spent a month touring europe in [B]my[/B] car, and picked up quite a few parking tickets, including a couple in Italy. None ever found it's way back to England. However, he parked beside a "passe caribile" sign in Matera, in a hire car, and it was towed away. Cost him a fortune to get it back.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 03/30/2008 - 08:13

Thank you for the advice everyone.

I think I'm going to sit it out and see what happens. Like I said, on the reverse of the ticket it says that to challenge the fine you should wait for the paperwork to arrive then follow the instructions.

I will just wait for the paperwork to arrive. If it does, I will challenge it, if it doesn't, I'll just follow their instructions and keep waiting. :smile:

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 03/30/2008 - 08:29

Surf over to the slowtrav forums and check the threads. I know some of the people have been European drivers.

IIRC if you don't have Italian plates they turn the ticket over to a collection agency that only gets paid a percentage of collections. From the stories it's not unusual to get a ticket 2+ years after the violation. Of course by this time the appeal chance is long gone. Worse you're facing fines for not paying the intial fine. :eeeek:

BTW Isn't there a European ticket setup yet? If not you have to figure it can't be too far away.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 03/30/2008 - 10:48

It occurs to me after having read this thread that it would be much easier to just pay the fine, especially if you live or visit here on a regulare basis, whats the point of ducking and diving?, just pay and then forget about it.
A

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 03/31/2008 - 03:12

Thanks for the advice Angie.

I'll keep you posted as to what happens.