Traffic infringements in Italy

[Pete Franklin]

I'm not sure if this is the right section however:

I recieved a fine through the post today for driving in a limited traffic area in Florence in september of last year. The fine is 105 euros. On the day we were driving a hire car around florence for about 3hrs trying to find a hotel (they were all fully booked) the restricted areas were signed on the entrances but occasionally they were half way down a one way street with no other option but to go through it when you got to them and traffic was so manic that you had no time to react. when we finally found a hotel i told them that we had driven through some areas and they called up the police to have the fines cancelled. Well looks like one got through.

Has anyone ever had one of these? Is it best to pay up? or can I just ignore it? I have read about the fines increasing if you dont pay them, but do they have any authority to chase you in the UK?

Your thoughts please

Pete

[cjs]

May be you would be better off posting in the 'Speed, Plod Law' forum.

Driving in Italy is a nightmare sometimes!

[Pete Franklin]

Good call

Can a mod move this for me please?

[zac510]

Is it from the Police or from a private company?

[scdan4]

My mate has just had something similar, congestion charge restriction violation in an italian city (not sure which one)

He looked into it and came to the conclusion that he had to pay. The nub of the problem being the hire card company had his credit card details.

All he could find on the net were details of people who tried to fight it, but lost.

hth.

[Pete Franklin]

its from the municipal police

Regarding credit card payments- we were just going to report the card lost and get a replacement(dont use it for much).

I wasn’t going to fight it- just ignore it. I'm not sure how they could track you down as they surely don’t have jurisdiction in the UK.

I'm reading a lot of contradicting stories on the web. I'm just worried that we will have more of these fines sent through. the amount they are charging is pretty bad for something that is so poorly implemented. I was doing my best to be cautious but as I said there were some situations that you had little or no control over.

[Ali2202]

Ignore it and cancel the credit card. It's a speculative attempt at best by them.

[Deva Link]

Pete Franklin said:

..they called up the police to have the fines cancelled.

Really? That's quite impressive.

Maybe you could write back and say it's been sent in error as the hotel arranged for them all to be cancelled.

[Pete Franklin]

The restrictions are for non residents. if you are staying in a hotel you are classed as a resident so the hotel can get the fines canceled at the time. problem is they can only do that if the hotel is in the restricted area that you drove through (there are loads) the place we stayed at had a few other hotels in the city so was able to cancel in other areas too. obviously not all of them though.

[Pete Franklin]

Ali2202 said:

Ignore it and cancel the credit card. It's a speculative attempt at best by them.

Do you have experience to back that up?

[Ali2202]

Pete Franklin said:

Ali2202 said:

Ignore it and cancel the credit card. It's a speculative attempt at best by them.

Do you have experience to back that up?

Yep Pete I do. The Italian Authorities operate on a general chaos theory so more than likely to not pursue. It will cost them too much.

The only possible long-term issue is your details will be logged with the car-hire firm and might throw up next time you try to rent from them but even that really is extremely unlikely.

Ignore it. They might send follow-ups but ignore it.

[streaky]

cjs said:

Driving in Italy is a nightmare sometimes!

In Milano the traffic signals are imperitivo.

In Roma they are indicitivo.

And in Napoli, they are decorativo.

Streaky

[Kateg28]

My Ex and I got a fine several years ago although we were in our own car driving through Europe. They came after us for at least a year with a badly written partial address which still got through (bless Royal Mail). The fine kept going up and we had no idea what to do. Eventually my Aunt came over to visit from Naples and we gave her the money and she settled it for us when she went home.

Tenacious little.....

They are mental drivers though, just booked flights and car hire for July in Naples. Should be a hoot.

[caziques]

I don't fully understand why anyone would pay a speculative invoice from abroad that can't be enforced, and quite possibly doesn't even exist. Would it make any difference if one of these came from Nigeria?

I've just done a chargeback on a credit, a hire company claims to have paid a Parking Ticket from Nottingham for me...........from last October when I was visiting the UK.

It's very kind of them, but don't expect me to pay.

I suspect the credit card company will end up paying, whatever happens it will take them a lot of time to sort it out and they won't get any money regardless of the outcome. I believe this is what happened with a camera speeding ticket from Australia (sent to NZ) - I reversed the admin charges and never heard anything more. Hired a car recently from the same place at Brisbane Airport - nothing mentioned - and I have a very rare second name.

Treat all demands for payment from foreign countries as a scam and ignore.

[Deva Link]

caziques said:

Treat all demands for payment from foreign countries as a scam and ignore.

Expect to have fun at immigration next time you visit that country!

I'm surprised you got away with reversing the credit card charge - when you signed the car hire agreement you agreed to pay these charges.

[catso]

As someone who lived in Florence for 5 years, I would ignore it.

[caziques]

Deva Link said:

caziques said:

Treat all demands for payment from foreign countries as a scam and ignore.

Expect to have fun at immigration next time you visit that country!

I'm surprised you got away with reversing the credit card charge - when you signed the car hire agreement you agreed to pay these charges.

Do you really believe that countries keep some sort of list of petty alleged fine defaulters and match it up with passports?

You can reverse ANY credit card transaction. If, however, the charge is subsequently shown to be legitimate it can be reverse reversed. I don't agree with anyone charging things to my credit card after the event - not for any reason.

[streaky]

catso said:

As someone who lived in Florence for 5 years, I would ignore it.

I presume therefore that you can confirm Dillon's answer to Dougal's question - Streaky

PS - younger readers (but not those under the age of 18, nor before the nine o'clock watershed) should look here for an explanation - S

[Ali2202]

caziques said:

Deva Link said:

caziques said:

Treat all demands for payment from foreign countries as a scam and ignore.

Expect to have fun at immigration next time you visit that country!

I'm surprised you got away with reversing the credit card charge - when you signed the car hire agreement you agreed to pay these charges.

Do you really believe that countries keep some sort of list of petty alleged fine defaulters and match it up with passports?

You can reverse ANY credit card transaction. If, however, the charge is subsequently shown to be legitimate it can be reverse reversed. I don't agree with anyone charging things to my credit card after the event - not for any reason.

^^^^Chap's correct!

[Deva Link]

caziques said:

Deva Link said:

caziques said:

Treat all demands for payment from foreign countries as a scam and ignore.

Expect to have fun at immigration next time you visit that country!

I'm surprised you got away with reversing the credit card charge - when you signed the car hire agreement you agreed to pay these charges.

Do you really believe that countries keep some sort of list of petty alleged fine defaulters and match it up with passports?

It wouldn't surprise me - they certainly do in the US.

caziques said:

You can reverse ANY credit card transaction. If, however, the charge is subsequently shown to be legitimate it can be reverse reversed. I don't agree with anyone charging things to my credit card after the event - not for any reason.

If you don't agree with it then you shouldn't have taken the hire car and signed that you agreed to such debits.