Parking ticket brushed off by Spanish police; should I worry??

[dave]

My wife and I spent some time hopping from parador to parador this summer. We stopped in Plasencia, where I received a parking ticket for overstaying my welcome (ran out of time). I immediately fed the meter and set off to pay my ticket since I was on my way out of town when I found the ticket.

I walked into a police station I'd noticed during my exploration of the town the previous day and was redirected by the officer to another station. I let the officer on duty know that I wanted to pay my parking ticket. He initially told me I needed to pay the "meter reader". I hadn't seen any such person and told him so. He then asked if I'd since paid the parking meter, which I had. He then proceeded to advise me to simply forget about the ticket. I asked him to repeat himself, since my spanish isn't all that great. He definitely told me to not worry about the ticket.

Keep in mind:
- my spanish is better than basic, but not quite intermediate

- he was trying to deal with two situations, he'd actually diverted his attention from another matter to attend to me, which only made me hesitate to take any more of his time

- it was my father-in-law's car! (registered in Portugal)


Do I have anything to worry about here?? Is this typical of the way tickets might be handled in Spain, or should I expect an angry phone call from my in-laws? (whom, btw, I did inform of the situation :-)

the Spanish police and I (http://www.notesfromspain.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2654#post2654) are getting to be old friends, I'm afraid.....

thanks
Dave

[Marina]

:D:D:D I remember reading your previous adventure with the police!!!

My point of view is forget about it, Plasencia is not a big city plus your car is from Portugal so I suspect they won't take the time to contact Portuguese authorities to find out who the car belongs to and then send the fine. But as we've mentioned in our latest spanish podcasts (http://www.notesinspanish.com/2006/09/02/advanced-notes-in-spanish-podcast-47-trapicheos/) this things are changing very quickly in Spain at the moment, so my point of view can be wrong ,in which case if your in laws get the fine you will have to pay it.

I hope you enjoyed Andalucia and Portugal!!!
Marina.

PS Just for journalist reasons please let us know if finally get the fine.;)

[greytop]

For anyone else "on the meter" who over-runs it may be worth looking at the meter instructions. Certainly in Denía you can pay the excess charge at the meter I believe. This is only a few euros. Maybe that is what the policeman was saying?

[ValenciaSon]

But as we've mentioned in our latest spanish podcasts (http://www.notesinspanish.com/2006/09/02/advanced-notes-in-spanish-podcast-47-trapicheos/) this things are changing very quickly in Spain at the moment, so my point of view can be wrong ,in which case if your in laws get the fine you will have to pay it.

I hope you enjoyed Andalucia and Portugal!!!
Marina.

PS Just for journalist reasons please let us know if finally get the fine.;)[/quote]


Marina, it appears you have started a "trapicheo de trafico" movement:rolleyes:

[Marina]

If I ever start a movement, let it be something more positive please;)

[Marbella]

¡No me preocuparía, este caso, el de 'Farruquito' todavia sigue sin solución después de 3 años! Mató un hombre, sin tener permiso de conducir, no paró a auxiliarle y mintió constantemente. Aunque hoy le han sentenciado a 3 años de cárcel sigue en libertad. Creo que los abogados en España deben ganar un dineral con estos casos sin final.

La historia del caso en El Mundo (http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2006/09/05/cultura/1157448035.html).


"Tras la comunicación de la sentencia de la Audiencia de Sevilla, el fallo será entregado al juzgado de lo Penal 8 de la ciudad para que inicie la ejecución de la sentencia. El titular de este juzgado será el encargado de fijar la fecha del ingreso en prisión del bailaor en un plazo que suele oscilar entre dos y cinco meses, aunque 'Farruquito' podría solicitar alargar este margen si tuviera alguna actuación u otro tipo de trabajo que le coincidiera con su fecha de ingreso en la cárcel, según su abogado, Benito Saldaña."

[Marina]

El caso de Farruquito es increible

[dave]

:D:D I remember reading your previous adventure with the police!!!

My point of view is forget about it, Plasencia is not a big city plus your car is from Portugal so I suspect they won't take the time to contact Portuguese authorities to find out who the car belongs to and then send the fine. But as we've mentioned in our latest spanish podcasts (http://www.notesinspanish.com/2006/09/02/advanced-notes-in-spanish-podcast-47-trapicheos/) this things are changing very quickly in Spain at the moment, so my point of view can be wrong ,in which case if your in laws get the fine you will have to pay it.

I hope you enjoyed Andalucia and Portugal!!!
Marina.

PS Just for journalist reasons please let us know if finally get the fine.;)

I sort of came to that conclusion while we were there. I don't think they'll hunt us down. I've now got worst-case scenarios running through my head because my in-laws also live here in the US. They go home to Portugal every summer, while my wife and I visit every two years. If the Spanish police decide it's worth the trouble, my in-laws will find out next summer when they arrive! :o

To use an american colloquialism: Man, that would suck, big time.

Anyhow, for now I'm going to cross my fingers. If anything comes of this, I'll be sure to let you all know!

Who knows? Maybe I could use it to my advantage: "But honey, I need to get to Spain as soon as I can to take care of this parking ticket...."

[dave]

For anyone else "on the meter" who over-runs it may be worth looking at the meter instructions. Certainly in Denía you can pay the excess charge at the meter I believe. This is only a few euros. Maybe that is what the policeman was saying?

I don't think the meter instructions made any mention of this, but I could have certainly missed something due to preconceived notions re: parking meters.

He may have meant that, but, at the time it seemed almost as if he was making it up as he went along. I did ask him to repeat what he'd said, to make sure I'd heard him correctly, but I didn't ask for clarification as to exactly what he meant. It was only later that week that I really thought about it and came to wish I had pressed the issue.

Nothing to do now but wait, I guess. :-)

[catavino]

I have a basque friend who visits Madrid regularly and with his carefree spirit parks where ever he wants. He therefore has many a ticket. In his twisted mind he figures that if he stacks the tickets on his dashboard then the officer will feel bad for him and not give him any more. He's not planning on paying them, but rather somewhat mock the situation. I'm a bit confused too, because so far it seems to have worked. He came a few months ago and he then left in another car to the beach with some other friends. His car did not move and stayed in the same spot for 3 days....no tickets!

I can't explain it, I don't think it advisable to try, but I have witnessed it, and I don't believe what I saw!

You never know what will happen here in Spain!

ryan

[dave]

Just for journalist reasons please let us know if finally get the fine.;)

Well, my inlaws have been and back again this summer. I did not receive any angry phone calls from Portugal so it seems we're in the clear.

<sigh>

It seems I'll have to find another excuse to hop a plane to Spain....