DaveTO

Hi all,

I received a nasty surprise in the mail today - a 400 Euro photo radar ticket! I was travelling 81 in an 80 zone, and apparently it dropped to a 50 zone (residential unmarked?) with a photo spot set up.

Is there any way to argue for a tourist reduction? I know in Canada, they tend to give tourists a warning for speeding violations.

Also, will there be any repurcussions for just ignoring the ticket across any of the other Schengen countries? I can accept not being able to drive in Spain for the rest of my life...

rotanes

if it was a rental car, your credit card will be charged by the rental agency, if you do not pay.

DaveTO

They can't - the card number was stolen and cancelled, so VISA won't accept any more charges on it.

star_world

In that case the car rental company will likely initiate debt collection proceedings against you if the transaction fails to process. They're likely to be more diligent in this than the authorities in Spain.

Huge risk, IMHO.

pjso

How did you get the fine in the mail anyway, since you don't live in Spain and don't specify if it was the rental agency that sent it to you?

You will be able to drive without problems in the rest of the Schengen area.

DaveTO

Thanks!

I guess the rental car company must have passed that information along.

Night Flyer

I don't believe you are at risk of being charged by the rental car company even if they had a current card number on file. Unlike parking tickets, which are issued against the vehicle, speeding tickets are issued against the driver and no rental car company in or outside the EU agrees to bear such fees.

The rental company does charge you a fee to provide your details to the police, it's usually 20 euros or less, so they may not dun you for such a small charge when they realize your card is cancelled. It's possible their agreement with Visa will allow the charge to follow to your new card number once Visa determines it is a legitimate charge, but as I said it will be minimal.

Normally you receive the ticket directly from the police or, in some instances the EMO (European Municipal Outsourcing agency). If you reside within the EU they might actually try to reduce the charge to a judgment and attempt to collect it from you, but if you're in Canada it's unlikely for a single ticket they'll do anything. If they don't do anything, it's even more unlikely that you'd have a problem in another Schengen country.

flyingfkb

Only thing that could happen if you go again to Spain and run into a police control they will make you pay your open charge on the spot (at least that is what they do in Germany)

stimpy

I can verify that speeding tickets in the EU in a rental car are not applied to the rental car company. The rental car company gives the legal authority the address of your drivers license and the ticket arrives in the post. This is true even for US DL holders.

I don't know about Spain, but some EU countries will arrest you at the border if you try to enter or leave with an unpaid speeding ticket on file. You can pay the fine on the spot and go free though.

Can I ask where in Spain this happened? I drive well over the limit on the Mediterranean coast highway and often see people passing me even faster. I've never seen a radar setup there.

DaveTO

Since there are no border controls within Schengen countries, I just have to enter in a non-Spain gateway.

The ticket was on the N340 in an area near Valencia.

DaveTO

I don't know how they'd know it's me. As long as I don't have my Driver's License on me, all they have is a passport - name and a country (no address).

stimpy

If your name is the same, and they suspect you, it's kind of up to you to prove that it wasn't you driving. Which should be easy to do with passport stamps if it truly wasn't you.

And one day Interpol will get the access they have been fighting for to link all this data across the EU, USA and elsewhere.

pjso

Not happening soon...
Also, speeding is not a crime, so it wouldn't even enter to any interpol database.

ajax

This is not strictly true, although practically speaking it is almost always true such that it matters.

Mynameismud

Last december i discovered on my Amex statement an Hertz fee (approx 30€) and did not know what it was related to. I then called Amex and ask them to investigate. My last rental with Hertz was 3 months ago, back in september, in Sardinia .
Of course i was not aware about any fine for speeding or parking.
A few days after my call to Amex, i received a letter from Hertz in Sardinia.
Although it was written in italian, it stated the 30€ fee was an administrative fee for providing my details to the municipal police in Sardinia. The bad news being the fine was about 100€ for driving into a municipal forbidden area....which of course i was not aware
Anyway a couple of weeks after my call to Amex, i found out they refunded the 30€ fee ^
I still did not receive the official letter from the municipal police, so i guess they gave up...