Fined when car locked up and I was in UK

[CuevaCascada]

Just an update if anyone is following this,
Had a meeting with a solicitor last week, he tells me that to take it to court will be 5-6 years, even if I win I have to pay ALL the costs!! if I do not pay the fine they can take my bank account and a charge on my home!!

He suggests going to Jaen to ask to see the proof (photo) they have of the offence, but get this, even if the photo shows a different car or they got the reg number wrong I still have to take it to court in 5-6 years and still have to pay all the costs!!
Another lady messaged me she had just got a fine for having her dog in the car, which was secured in the car but as she was not carrying the dogs passport was sent a fine, which as she was away she got when she retuned home and had also missed the appeal date!!

I have written to my MP and EuroMP but looks like I will have to pay the fine, what ever happened to innocent until proven guilty!! or is Spain, Guilty until you pay up!!

[OldTimer]

Of course, you are right to feel this way, and I fully sympathise with you, but I wouldn't expect you get anywhere with writing to you MEP. This issue must be way down the list of their priorities when it comes to them trying to address all the legal quirks in the Spanish system.

[Tyler]

Sadly, I have to agree with OldTimer - it will probably worl out cheaper, easier and less painfull just to do what they are demanding at this stage, rather than later. If the system allows a 15 day period of grace to make an appeal the authorities will doubtlessly claim that they have 'been fair'.

[CuevaCascada]

I think all of you will by now be aware of my phantom fine from Jaen (where I had never been) which I got in 2010 while I was in fact in the UK. After fighting on with help from many friends and demanding my innocence was proved it was eventually cancelled yesterday when on a visit to Jaen, it was found the car was in fact a different colour, and make. The problem!! A policeman who cannot write a 9 that does not look like an 8!! Why when it clearly says the car was White and a Fiat on the ticket it did not seem wrong when mine is a Citroen that is dark grey
My solicitor was very helpful and if anyone needs advise on procedure and how to deal more efficiently with similar matters would be pleased to help.
Anyway the 2 years of fighting is over thanks to all who have helped and given support and it is possible to fight for justice in Spain, even if you dont get any compensation.
Now I find my spanish will done by a Spanish (so called solicitor) is wrong so needs to be done again, watch out for my posts on the next problem to be solved!!

[admin]

Congratulations on finally getting your problem resolved, Cueva.

- Based on what you have said, it sounds like you succeeded thanks to a combination of a good solicitor, persistence, accessible evidence to support your case - and a bit of good luck !

- Just out of interest, what were your legal costs is resolving this issue and who paid them ?

[CuevaCascada]

Hi,

Thanks for that, paid the solicitor 70 euros, plus taxi to the offices in Jaen of (5x2) 10 euros, petrol to Jaen etc so not cheap, but still happy its sorted, I paid costs, no chance of any compensation yet but as I am dealing with the ombudsman will se what they can do??

[BigPete]

This happened to me last year - I was fined whilst I was `00% certain that they had made an error. The fine was 90 Euros, reduced to 45 Euros if I paid within 2 weeks of the date of the fine. I know I was in the right, and they were in the wrong, but decided that it wasn't worth the hassle to go to court and appeal. I'm certain that I would have done if it had been as much as yours though, well done !

[CostaGratis]

Had the same problem.

Heard of a firm of lawyers in Madrid who regularly picked random NIE numbers to blame their parking tickets on! Until one used the same one repeatedly, their victim fought it and tracked it down somehow! They were arrested.

All I can say is NEGRO - it is the secret that keeps Spain going...

[SimonCarter]

Thanks for that, yes I think a lawyer is my only choice, my friend was well out of the 15 days,as she was in Uk as well, I did not even get the first mail they sent as it is sent recorded delivery and if you dont collect it ( as i was in Uk) it is returned to them, strange we get 15 days when it took them over 6 months to reply to the first letter sent to them!! I have to reply on others to tell me what the letters say, last one was 3 pages long, took weeks to get a basic translation, but that is my fault for not speaking enough Spanish.

This is typical of Spain ! If it is a team of lawyers who are abusing the system, what hope is there for any of the rest of us. The lot of them are bent !

[CostaGratis]

I must be honest here, if you cannot speak the language, you are subjecting yourself to potential misunderstanding (and abuse), as clearly illustrated by the case that this thread started with - in the end the fine was squashed even though in the beginning it seemed impossible.

There are many nuances in life which simply get missed if you do not understand. If you can only pick out one word of every sentence how can you expect to do things properly.

Obviously there are those people that take advantage of this. As I am sure there are people in the UK that take advantage of foreigners that cannot speak the language...

That said, I am simply amazed at how the Spanish themselves, allow themselves to be abused by the government, large corporations (utilities) and public administration... ...erm not much different to UK then?

We need a bit of the French revolutionary spirit in both countries!