Foreign traffic fine

djspecialist

I just received a traffic fine, from a holiday in Italy last August.  It's for "entering a pedestrian area".  I have zero recollection of doing this, and the letter contains evidence - just a time and place.  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a case of "look, there's a rental car - let's get us some free money".

Pay up, or ignore it?

chillidoggy

Ignore it, and if they come knocking, blame it on Brexit.

bloodandtears

last august?? when i visited Italy a few years ago on a driving holiday I was made aware that there were many ZTL areas of traffic no go without permit and that the car hire companies would just charge your credit card with such fines upon receipt, 70 euro fine approx??

I assume you have been sent a letter from an Italian council or similar, and not the car rental firm?

Many ignore, others pay, contesting it will be difficult due to the language barrier and distance. Is there is no vehicle registration or photographic evidence mentioned in the letter?

djspecialist

bloodandtears said:

last august?? when i visited Italy a few years ago on a driving holiday I was made aware that there were many ZTL areas of traffic no go without permit and that the car hire companies would just charge your credit card with such fines upon receipt, 70 euro fine approx??

I assume you have been sent a letter from an Italian council or similar, and not the car rental firm?

Many ignore, others pay, contesting it will be difficult due to the language barrier and distance. Is there is no vehicle registration or photographic evidence mentioned in the letter?

The letter came from the Italian municipal police force, to my home address.  Presumably the latter was provided by the rental firm.  There is a registration number; I haven't checked it against the rental record, but I'm assuming it will match.

The letter contains a field called "equipment", under which there is an unintelligible combination of letters and numbers, followed by a street address.  This could conceivably refer to a camera.

scrumhalf

I'd do a bit of online checking, just to make sure it isn't a scam from someone harvesting data at the rental company.

You know what tricky types these Johhny Foreigners are...

spark240

I ignored a parking ticket for Philadelphia....about 6 months later I got a court order to appear I Philly....I thought it cheaper to pay it.

djspecialist

scrumhalf said:

I'd do a bit of online checking, just to make sure it isn't a scam from someone harvesting data at the rental company.

I did - consensus seems to be that it's legit.

Particularly given that I travel to Italy fairly regularly (have a holiday and car rental booked there this summer), I think I'll grit my teeth and pay up.
 

57Deluxe

or move house quickly?

djspecialist

57Deluxe said:

or move house quickly?

I was planning to do that in the spring, having racked up some juicy unpaid energy bills over the winter.

chillidoggy

It occurs to me that if you fail to pay up it could conceivably tip Italy into recession.

Snap

@chillidoggy lmao, probably right!

I've had a couple of tickets similar to this. In both cases the hire car firm charged it to my credit card that I used at the time of rental.

For the sake of the money involved, I think its worth paying jsut to have one less possble hassle in life eh?

Evilmags

It's just municipal play cops. I'd ignore it. Caribineri are a different thing entirely. 

Emp_Fab

I wouldn't pay it.  Seriously, what can they do ?

Ah.. just read that you go there frequently.  In this case, they could go all the way through the court system and you'd be found guilty in your absence, then the next time you're going through passport control, you're yanked into a cell and given the "Probi Analli (non-Luba).

MattBanshee

Emp_Fab said:

I wouldn't pay it.  Seriously, what can they do ?

Ah.. just read that you go there frequently.  In this case, they could go all the way through the court system and you'd be found guilty in your absence, then the next time you're going through passport control, you're yanked into a cell and given the "Probi Analli (non-Luba).

If it's gone through an international hire car firm, then they could very well be forced to pay as the owners of the vehicle, if the named driver does not comply. In which case, you can bet they'll pull that money out of you with a hefty admin fee on top.

thebreeze

Can't you just reply that it wasn't you driving?  How can they prove it was you?

fretmeister

thebreeze said:

Can't you just reply that it wasn't you driving?  How can they prove it was you?

That's probably a breach of his hire contract - and I bet the hirer has to pay out for all illegal use of the car irrespective of the actual driver.