German Parking Ticket - Pay or Forget?

[Rotary Potato]

Currently travelling round the EU in a UK registered car, and must have parked in the wrong part of an S-Bahn station car park on the outskirts of Berlin. We've come back to a ticket under the wiper for 55 euros.

Is this something we can file away under "what happens on tour, stays on tour"? Or will it follow us back to the UK and better just to chalk it up to experience & get it paid to avoid things getting worse?

I'm not familiar with how things work here, so have no idea if this is a private matter between the company watching the station car park & us, or if it's a criminal matter and going unpaid will result in the rubber gloves treatment at the next border crossing. Please educate me.

[mrdelazouch]

AFAIK if this was issued by a private operator I doubt that it would be enforceable in the UK, as private operators don't have an access to DVLA database. Is there an early payment discount?

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

Genuine question: Is 55 Euros a lot of money to you? It is to some people; it isn’t to others.

Or, to ask a slightly different question, is the peace of mind of knowing that you’ve coughed up and there are no further consequences worth 55 Euros to you?

If it were me, I’d say to myself “bks, I screwed up, but I ll just pay up for an easy life”.

[mmm-five]

I've been in some German car parks where I've tried to pay with coins - and I carry a bag of € coins in the car specifically for parking, toilets and tips - only to be told that I must use the new app...but the app is not downloadable to a UK phone, so it's a catch-22.

[Rotary Potato]

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:

Genuine question: Is 55 Euros a lot of money to you? It is to some people; it isn t to others.

Or, to ask a slightly different question, is the peace of mind of knowing that you ve coughed up and there are no further consequences worth 55 Euros to you?

If it were me, I d say to myself bks, I screwed up, but I ll just pay up for an easy life .

I don't feel like I have enough information to answer that yet. Hence me asking here as the PH collective seem to know a lot & have steered me right on a few topics over the years.

55 euros to avoid a highly likely session with Hans the border guard and his sausage fingers? (Or any real hassle/hold up at a future border) Best money I've ever spent.

55 euros to avoid nothing but retain my piece of mind? Sounds like a poor deal to me.

As to the amount ... i think if it were say 10-20e I'd pay it without any real thought. 55e is enough to be worth investigating the state of play before making a decision.

[Rotary Potato]

mrdelazouch said:

AFAIK if this was issued by a private operator I doubt that it would be enforceable in the UK, as private operators don't have an access to DVLA database. Is there an early payment discount?

I speak zero german. But Google translate does ... and it doesn't think there is a discount. It also thinks that I'm being told that if I don't agree with the warning fine I should wait for the following letter with further details.

[200Plus Club]

Rotary Potato said:

Currently travelling round the EU in a UK registered car, and must have parked in the wrong part of an S-Bahn station car park on the outskirts of Berlin. We've come back to a ticket under the wiper for 55 euros.

Is this something we can file away under "what happens on tour, stays on tour"? Or will it follow us back to the UK and better just to chalk it up to experience & get it paid to avoid things getting worse?

I'm not familiar with how things work here, so have no idea if this is a private matter between the company watching the station car park & us, or if it's a criminal matter and going unpaid will result in the rubber gloves treatment at the next border crossing. Please educate me.

I had one in Germany and ignored it, overstayed by about 12 minutes, never heard 'nowt back, driven through Germany since then no worries

[paul_c123]

mrdelazouch said:

AFAIK if this was issued by a private operator I doubt that it would be enforceable in the UK, as private operators don't have an access to DVLA database. Is there an early payment discount?

What makes you confident a (private) German operator can't access details from the DVLA database?

[SS427 Camaro]

Ignore it.

[Frimley111R]

Ignore it, no-one is going to chase you in the UK and, as with speed cameras across Europe, all countries on the mainland don't have access to UK driver data so no worries.

[JohnnyUK]

Pay it, if you were responsible for the "offence"

Gawd knows we moan about Johnny Foreigner not abiding by British "values" - why mimic that abroad?

[Griffith4ever]

Rotary Potato said:

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:

Genuine question: Is 55 Euros a lot of money to you? It is to some people; it isn t to others.

Or, to ask a slightly different question, is the peace of mind of knowing that you ve coughed up and there are no further consequences worth 55 Euros to you?

If it were me, I d say to myself bks, I screwed up, but I ll just pay up for an easy life .

I don't feel like I have enough information to answer that yet. Hence me asking here as the PH collective seem to know a lot & have steered me right on a few topics over the years.

55 euros to avoid a highly likely session with Hans the border guard and his sausage fingers? (Or any real hassle/hold up at a future border) Best money I've ever spent.

55 euros to avoid nothing but retain my piece of mind? Sounds like a poor deal to me.

As to the amount ... i think if it were say 10-20e I'd pay it without any real thought. 55e is enough to be worth investigating the state of play before making a decision.

If you even slightly believe that you'll get fisted at the border for 55 euros ,pay it.

Otherwise, if you are confident that even in Germany, they are not so well set up that they stop every international arrival and check for minor fines, then don't pay it.

I'm option 2,

(lived in Italy for 2 years and ignored all my fines (usually rstricted lanes in cities). Still here, still welcome in Italy, no interpol SWAT arrests.

[Griffith4ever]

JohnnyUK said:

Pay it, if you were responsible for the "offence"

Gawd knows we moan about Johnny Foreigner not abiding by British "values" - why mimic that abroad?

revenge?

They are not really "offences" though, are they? they are minor mistakes resulting in a fine to encourage you not to do it again, which you won't , because you'll likely never go to the same place ever again.

[JohnnyUK]

Griffith4ever said:

JohnnyUK said:

Pay it, if you were responsible for the "offence"

Gawd knows we moan about Johnny Foreigner not abiding by British "values" - why mimic that abroad?

revenge?

They are not really "offences" though, are they? they are minor mistakes resulting in a fine to encourage you not to do it again, which you won't , because you'll likely never go to the same place ever again.

That's alright then.....

[Griffith4ever]

JohnnyUK said:

Griffith4ever said:

JohnnyUK said:

Pay it, if you were responsible for the "offence"

Gawd knows we moan about Johnny Foreigner not abiding by British "values" - why mimic that abroad?

revenge?

They are not really "offences" though, are they? they are minor mistakes resulting in a fine to encourage you not to do it again, which you won't , because you'll likely never go to the same place ever again.

That's alright then.....

To me, absolutely.

Example - in Florence I drove 30 or so metres up a restricted road without realising it (not familiar with the local regs). 80 Euro fine. What for? to stop me doing it again. But I had no idea. Why on earth would I willingly give Euros up for that? I'll defo not do it again anyhow.

No different to home. I'd avoid paying for one wheel in the last 1m of a bus lane (happened in London) but I can't avoid it. They can take me to court. The camera was 100% set up for entrapment / revenue.

I'm not a "law abider". I speed pretty much every day. Neither am I a menace to society. I just don't do "what I'm told".

[Pica-Pica]

Griffith4ever said:

JohnnyUK said:

Griffith4ever said:

JohnnyUK said:

Pay it, if you were responsible for the "offence"

Gawd knows we moan about Johnny Foreigner not abiding by British "values" - why mimic that abroad?

revenge?

They are not really "offences" though, are they? they are minor mistakes resulting in a fine to encourage you not to do it again, which you won't , because you'll likely never go to the same place ever again.

That's alright then.....

To me, absolutely.

Example - in Florence I drove 30 or so metres up a restricted road without realising it (not familiar with the local regs). 80 Euro fine. What for? to stop me doing it again. But I had no idea. Why on earth would I willingly give Euros up for that? I'll defo not do it again anyhow.

No different to home. I'd avoid paying for one wheel in the last 1m of a bus lane (happened in London) but I can't avoid it. They can take me to court. The camera was 100% set up for entrapment / revenue.

I'm not a "law abider". I speed pretty much every day. Neither am I a menace to society. I just don't do "what I'm told".

Hmm.

[mrdelazouch]

Rotary Potato said:

I speak zero german. But Google translate does ... and it doesn't think there is a discount. It also thinks that I'm being told that if I don't agree with the warning fine I should wait for the following letter with further details.

It might be better to pay the fine and move on then.

paul_c123 said:

What makes you confident a (private) German operator can't access details from the DVLA database?

I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think there is any direct cross border agreement that would allow private parking companies to get access to our data. Happy to be corrected though.

[Griffith4ever]

Pica-Pica said:

Griffith4ever said:

JohnnyUK said:

Griffith4ever said:

JohnnyUK said:

Pay it, if you were responsible for the "offence"

Gawd knows we moan about Johnny Foreigner not abiding by British "values" - why mimic that abroad?

revenge?

They are not really "offences" though, are they? they are minor mistakes resulting in a fine to encourage you not to do it again, which you won't , because you'll likely never go to the same place ever again.

That's alright then.....

To me, absolutely.

Example - in Florence I drove 30 or so metres up a restricted road without realising it (not familiar with the local regs). 80 Euro fine. What for? to stop me doing it again. But I had no idea. Why on earth would I willingly give Euros up for that? I'll defo not do it again anyhow.

No different to home. I'd avoid paying for one wheel in the last 1m of a bus lane (happened in London) but I can't avoid it. They can take me to court. The camera was 100% set up for entrapment / revenue.

I'm not a "law abider". I speed pretty much every day. Neither am I a menace to society. I just don't do "what I'm told".

Hmm.

Hmm is not going to change my position.

[FarmyardPants]

Griffith4ever said:

... I speed pretty much every day. Neither am I a menace to society. ...

A phrase like that in SP&L is like knocking over some saucepans in A Quiet Place

[fourthpedal]

Suppose a German were to park illegally in the UK, and then refuse to pay the fine. How would you feel about that? Would you, for example, write an angry letter to your local newspaper about it?