Spanish Speeding fine. Help please.

[Thmsshaun]

Firstly hello to all the members who know me. Currently out in Kuwait and Iraq keeing pretty busy.

Secondly I am not trying to get out of this just after some honest opinions. Not least how to go about paying it and where you stand after 2 months.

Due to my limitations in Kuwait my lodger has scanned the letter for me and posted it on this site, also for advice

If anyone has either experienced this or can take there time to look it would be appreciated as I am pretty stuck for what I can do about it out here.

http://www.chew-the-fat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=5653

The car was a Spanish regstered hire car. Also I dont have a clue who was driving at the time but I dont think there seems to be any mention of driver. Just the fact the vehicle was speeding.

Thanks in advance.

 

[jaymanek]

I think easiest thing would just be to pay the darn thing for that amount.. if they are not asking for driver details then they dont care who was driving and there are no points mentioned.

Obviously hire company gave them your details when they were sent the original ticket.

i doubt they would come looking for you. i read that only 1% of fines issued to drivers from outside of the UK are ever paid.

For £60ish its probably not worth messing with.

 

[Dieselman]

Signature, what signature, letter, what letter?

Oh, hang on....Shaun defected to a ***. Ha, ha. That'll teach you to speed.....Just deserts..cough up..

 

[Sp!ke]

Write back in english and tell them you have no idea what they are talking about.

Then cancel the credit card (just in case) and get a replacement.

Wait to see what happens next. I doubt they'll bother following up.

 

[supercharger]

yes i agree with spike 100%
i got a speeding fine in scotland in november they sent me a letter a month later. i ignored it completely .ive not heard a thing since.


supercharger

 

[recycled]

cancelling the card might not always work. when i cancelled my card after reporting it stolen, and My AA renewal came up they just approached the card company and used the new card details issued to me to get the subscription fee, even though i never gave them the new details.
the bank actually supplied them the new details

 

[Thmsshaun]

I might just write back to them in English anyway. Might be worth it. Like you say chances of them following it up are probably slim and then it shows at least I have acknowledged it.

Thanks for the response so far.

 

[dougal74]

For peace of mind I would pay rather than worry about a much larger bill arriving in the future. I wouldn't be worried about the police I would be worried about the hire car co. making damn sure a) they weren't out of pocket and b) they might make a nice little earner from the admin fees.

 

[TonyVianoAmbiente]

There is a time to stand your ground and fight on the basis of principle, but this isn't it.

Just pay it. It isn't worth the hassle, especially with you being based in Kuwait.

 

[crockers]

where is spain ??

 

[janner]

Are you sure it isn't a scam?
It's not unheard of for con artists to get details of tourists who have hired cars and send them fictitious fines.
It looks quite official but it might be worth checking?

edit.. BBC Link with address, telephone and e-mail to confirm the validity of the fine and help you with how to pay it.

 

[Uberwagon]

I recently had to pay a speeding fine in Rotterdam, the ONLY way to pay the cheque was to do it through the bank and for me to be there personally. Which was a bit of a pain.

If I didn't have to go to that country for a long time I would just bin it.

Dave!

 

[Brian WH]

One thing to bear in mind is - Are you ever going back to Spain?? If you are PAY IT as you don't want any aggro in the future.

That is what I did with a Belguim fine many years ago despite the fact that it took them 3 months to find me, via DVLA I assume.

 

[glojo]

I think the nitty gritty here is the advice about ever returning to Spain!

Definitely check the authenticity of the letter then if it were me, I would pay up.

John

 

[Thmsshaun]

Yes I will be going back to Spain so thats the main reson throwing it in the bin isn't really something I was thinking of doing. Obviously getting to a bank to pay it is not even an option at the moment which is going to make it fun.

Oh the joys of motoring. Best be more careful in the future.

 

[Thmsshaun]

Checked it out and the other half spoke to trading standards back home. Apparently its a fake and they want to look into and have asked for it to be sent on to them.

No idea what will happen if it later turns out to be real but for the time being I will ignore it.

 

[glojo]

Checked it out and the other half spoke to trading standards back home. Apparently its a fake and they want to look into and have asked for it to be sent on to them.

No idea what will happen if it later turns out to be real but for the time being I will ignore it.

If your handing it over to Trading Standards, then I don't suppose that would be classed as ignoring. Plus they should let you know if it turns out to be genuine?

Well done for chasing it up.

Regards
John

 

[janner]

Sounds like you owe me a pint

 

[dougal74]

What an extraordinary scam for a relatively small amount of money...I guess that is the trick - you pay up because there are no points and the fine is small?

 

[hindesbeans]

I was in a RTA in Sardinia in 2006 and 3 months later recieved a letter supposedly from the Sardinian police demanding payment of 200+ Euro's simply for them attending. It had to be signed for and looked suspiciously like your letter, only hand written on the setion 4 part. It was all in italian with no translation, seems daft sending a letter demanding money in a language the recipient probably wont understand. I gave it to an italian friend that couldnt even read the writing properly. I did cancel my credit card that the hire car was booked with so that whoever it was couldnt get the money via the credit card company though.

I never paid and it and even if it were real it would not put me off going back to Sardinia. I think that the authorities have more to worry about than continuously scanning flights to see who is visiting their country that might have dodged a small traffic fine.

Only my opinion though, please read small print.

i will not be held responsable for any fine dodging that catches up with you in later life. Nor for any knock on effects from dodging said fine. If you go back to spain and get thrown in jail, loose your job, wife leaves with the kids as a result and declares her undieing love for your best mate who has never been in trouble with the spanish police, then takes you for everything you have left including the house and the merc.

Dont point any fingers at me!