A couple of weeks ago we visited Ypres on holiday to see the Menin Gate. Parked up in an on-street parking bay and had a quick check round for parking restrictions, of which neither of us could see any (signs, meters “payant” stencils on the road like they have in France).
Went off, did our thing, came back to a till receipt tucked under the wiper blade, which seemed to be some kind of parking ticket for 20E, all in Dutch/Flemish, which neither of us speak. Stuck it in the hole in the dashboard and carried on with the holiday, as it was by then after work hours and we needed to drive quite a way to our digs for the night in France.
Got back home to a week and half of hell at work (mostly away from home), from which I’m only just catching up. Having just downloaded Google Translate, I appear to be in violation of some kind of blue zone disc parking system, and I had (ha!) 5 days to pay up – after that it’s now “become a municipal tax”.
Having looked up doing an IBAN transfer, my bank wants to add 50% of the value of the fine to facilitate me paying it – and that’s the slow version that takes 4 days to process.
Now, whilst not wanting to fall foul of Rule 1, I’m pissed off about the lack of parking info – I very much would have paid if it had been in any way obvious that I needed to (or parked elsewhere), the short notice period of the fine would have been unworkable anyway as I didn’t have access to online banking while I was away. (I will not do financial transactions over unknown wifi) and the bank fee now added on top feels rather excessive
.
So what would SSTWD…? I have no plans to go back to Belgium with that car, so I could just leave it and see what happens. (feels a bit like breaking Rule 1 though). Googling around, it’s possible Ypres parking may sell the fine to a UK co who may well come knocking on my door. Any experience how long that may take to occur, or how much extra the UK co will add on? If it’s less than £10, it’ll still be cheaper than sending the cash from my bank. Or can anyone recommend a cheaper way to pay when all the info you have is for IBAN?
Thanks!
Transferwise account - job jobbed
Pay the 30 euros and sleep easy. Not exactly going to break the bank is it.
transferwise as above.
I somewhat sympathise, I have often found Belgian parking systems to be most unclear. I think the blue badge scheme to which you refer will actually mean that you could have parked for free if you display a blue disc in the windscreen. The disc is turned to show the time that your arrived. As far as I can tell different towns allow different duration under the same scheme, so you need to Google the local rules in a new town.
Ignore it. Belgian waffle.
Wave your blue passport and tell them to foff?
Its exactly this kind of jibberish you always get from the EU. A totally undemocratic parking fine. We do not need to pay the divorce bill and this should be viewed as part of that. Rule Britannia!!!!
all in Dutch/Flemish, which neither of us speak
I’m pissed off about the lack of parking info – I very much would have paid if it had been in any way obvious that I needed to
🙂
Transferwise
Now, whilst not wanting to fall foul of Rule 1, I’m pissed off about the lack of parking info – I very much would have paid if it had been in any way obvious that I needed to (or parked elsewhere)
There probably was a blue card sign which indeed means you should have used a blue disc and could have parked for 2 hours for free...
A colleague got a parking fine in Switzerland and left it, he kept getting more letters with the fine gradually increasing, he ignored those too. Eight years later he returned to Switzerland, the next morning the police were banging on his hotel room door at six am demanding four hundred euros or he go to gaol. His passport had a flag on it and when he booked in to the hotel up it went. I'd just pay it.
My Swiss parking fine was the bast value thing I paid for in Switzerland.
I will not do financial transactions over unknown wifi
I'm the same but I do all mine on my phone using 4g when abroad.
J'ai rarement vu une telle mauvaise foi. "Je ne savais pas", alors que toutes les autres bagnoles avaient l'heure d'arrivé affichée. "Je n'ai pas compris", alors que j'ai un téléphone portable et Babelfish en quelques clics. "Je n'ai pas pu payer", ce qui est de votre propre aveux faux.
If you don't understand a foreign language use a translator:
Entitled foreigner in flash car flaunts local parking laws then refuses to pay fine.
Well it's paid now. 38p fee is much more reasonable via transferwise, so thanks for that.
J’ai rarement vu une telle mauvaise foi. “Je ne savais pas”, alors que toutes les autres bagnoles avaient l’heure d’arrivé affichée. “Je n’ai pas compris”, alors que j’ai un téléphone portable et Babelfish en quelques clics. “Je n’ai pas pu payer”, ce qui est de votre propre aveux faux.If you don’t understand a foreign language use a translator:
Entitled foreigner in flash car flaunts local parking laws then refuses to pay fine.
Helpful as always.
And obviously well wide of the mark seeing as he was asking for the best way to pay the fine.
But don’t let that stop you.
You missed this, Neal.
I have no plans to go back to Belgium with that car, so I could just leave it and see what happens.
And as already pointed you don't need wi-fi to pay a fine, you can do it from a 4G phone. Banking is one thing I'll do on any connexion, the encryption techniques and security are excellent, mine all works on clics on boxes that change place so even key stroke patterns are useless to a hacker.
So you’ve picked the one line of his long post that suits you and ignored the rest then ?
(And missed the rest of it off where he said not paying it would feel like breaking rule1)
Ok. Like I said. Don’t let it stop you having a dig at someone for no real reason. 👍
I read the whole post and found a trend.
When people park and parking restrictions aren't obvious they check the windscreens of other parked cars. I do it, I see other people doing it, I'll go as far as to say everybody does. I'm looking for tickets to indicate people have paid, a residents permit, the clock thing to see if I need to set mine. The OP didn't do that and that's odd really odd.
Then there's not being able to read the ticket despite having a translator on any phone anywhere and frankly, if there a ticket with euros on your windscreen there's a pretty high chance it's a parking ticket if you've parked in a big city and haven't paid for parking, got a residents' permit or a clock thing on the dash. Even if he hadn't checked if other cars had anything in their windscreens to allow parking before getting the ticket then any normal person would at least curious enough to check other cars having got a fine.
The payment was equally easy for anyone with a phone and/or on-line banking.
Then there's the question "WWSTWD". and immediately after a thinly veiled do I have to pay this or can I get away with it because it's in a foreign place. And as the answer was probably not he paid.
No real reason, eh. Was there a reason to have a dig at me, Neal? You usually do so that's another trend.
When people park and parking restrictions aren’t obvious they check the windscreens of other parked cars. I do it, I see other people doing it, I’ll go as far as to say everybody does.
I don't know about Belgium, but "pay by phone" has been a thing in the UK for some time now. Some cars have tickets in windows, many do not in the same area.
Then there’s the question “WWSTWD”. and immediately after a thinly veiled do I have to pay this or can I get away with it because it’s in a foreign place.
Nah, I believe this is your own bias I'm afraid. The OP was clearly asking (literally) what to do.
[quote=edukator] I read the whole post and [s]found[/s] [b]ignored[/b] a trend
[quote=TheOP] Having looked up doing an IBAN transfer, my bank wants to add 50% of the value of the fine to facilitate me paying it
Any experience how long that may take to occur, or how much extra the UK co will add on? If it’s less than £10, it’ll still be cheaper than sending the cash from my bank.
can anyone recommend a cheaper way to pay when all the info you have is for IBAN?
Сериозен въпрос. Защо публикувате на френски език на английски сайт в нишки, където всеки е публикуване на английски език.? Мислиш ли, че те кара да изглеждаш умна или се наслаждаваш да бъдеш беленд?
😆