Can they actuallly enforce this in places like switzerland
Has anyone heard of the above They specialise in trying to collect parking fine payment from foreign drivers who collect parking fines in britain and dont pay up
No.
They also have to prove who the driver is, they can't
They also have to prove an infringment took place - they can't.
They have too prove the PCN/ticket was served - they can't.
They will use bully boy ands scare tactics,threaten court action etc, but they are impotent. Laught it off and ignore any correspondance.
I had so many parking fines in England, and the only ones that need paying are those run by the county councils on public roads where they can provide photographic evidence of both the driver, the car, and the time and place. The courts have chucked the rest out.
fixed it for you Always appeal council tickets, majority are incorrect in 1 way or another. Ignore Private parking invoices.
If anyone is concerned go to pepipoo.com for advice.
I've dealt with these. I drove in the congestion charge with my Swiss car without paying. Two weeks later they sent me a letter written in German and fine (£60) converted to CHF. It had the TfL logo on the top. I paid up via credit card through their site.... I thought it best as I wanted to drive in the UK & London again.
Hello,
I am not at all sure if you should pay or not. But, the reality is that Euro Parking Collection EPC is a company that has received the power of attorney from several city councils that use their services to claim fines from international vehicles. Here is a list of Issuing Organisations and an example of what they state:
Delegation of Authority
Adur District Council and Worthing Borough Council (the "Client") hereby
confirms that we have delegated our function of tracing the owner via the
appropriate Vehicle Licensing Authority, issuing the equivalent Notice to Owner
form and Charge Certificate in the relevant language and collecting the sums
owed for the unpaid Penalty Charge Notices issued to vehicles registered
outside the Client's jurisdiction to Euro Parking Collection plc, of Shepperton
House, 83-93 Shepperton Road, London N1 3DF, United Kingdom ("EPC") by a
service level agreement.
EPC acts on our behalf and the ultimate responsibility lies with the Client. This
delegation of authority is granted in accordance with the laws of the Client's
country.
Power of Attorney
The Client hereby appoints EPC to be its attorney with authority to act in these
matters (as described in the delegation of authority above).
This Power of Attorney is valid until further notice.
Then you need to take into account the article in the Telegraph P arking in Europe? Fine... but note that it is dated 2002. The AA suggested in 2002 that if you receive a letter from the EPC you should ignore it:
...according to the legal departments of two of Europe's leading motoring organisations, EPC has no right to claim payment from British motorists. An AA spokesman said: "There are no bilateral or EC-wide conventions in force on the mutual recognition and enforcement of financial penalties." And Matthias Schmitting, spokesman for Germany's largest motoring body, the ADAC, added: "There is an agreement over fines between Germany and Austria, but not with any other country in Europe."
Mr Deckmark countered: "There is legislation in place to do this but it's still a very cumbersome process because you need a court judgment that has to be ratified to give legal power in another country, and that's not cheap. However, we find authorities in some countries are more determined than others. The further north you go in Europe, the keener councils seem to be to act."
The AA maintained that the best course of action for anyone who receives a demand from Euro Parking Collection is to ignore it. However, it claimed: "EC-wide conventions on both the mutual recognition of driver disqualification and mutual recognition of financial penalties are planned for the future." This means that if a court in, say, Sweden upholds a council's claim against a British offender, a bailiff in the UK will be able to act on that judgment.
And most interesting of all find ahead a list of Chart of signatures and ratifications of Treaty 052
European Convention on the Punishment of Road Traffic Offences
Status as of 16/01/2017
You will find a list of states that: State who signed, State who ratified, State who neither signed nor ratified, State who suspended, State who denounced.
Note that countries like Switzerland, Andorra, Albania have never signed a treaty.
I think it's a money making machine that may be enforced in the future. Today, I cannot give any advice but I believe that they truly have nothing to do to enforce the payment.
But, I would appreciate any comments as we have also received a letter.
I think after 7 years he’s sorted it out by now!
I guess so, nevertheless it can affect other people like me for example. I was expecting constructive feedback on the matter to check if my findings today are correct
There have been threads and posts on the topic which support your view that the fine is uncollectable here.
and see the last few posts in this thread:
Dartford Crossing - toll payment changes from October 2014
So ignore the letter and carry on motoring.
Many thanks, that's very helpful,
Then it would have been helpful to state that up front, rather than apparently answering directly to someone who posted 7 years ago.
Hey guys,
if it is such an issue that this post is 7 years old you should delete it. In my view it is relevant helpful information and I was adding to it hoping someone could bring some clarity to it.
If it is such an issue that it is an old post; rather than bashing my comments, just delete it.
Calm down. No one is bashing you for replying to an old thread, I wish more people would do that rather than starting a new one. But the way you wrote it did appear that you were offering advise to the OP instead of asking for advice for your own situation.
Exactly. If your profile says: About Zugger
Biography
Easy going then live up to it.
I understand what you say but I'm just getting upset about people providing useless information rather than building up to the story. Such as NotAllThere, the information you provide is useless. So please stop replying.
Adding to one single post about the same topic is much more useful than starting hundreds of new posts every time. Especially in this case in which the regulation is, and is going to be, updated regularly.
It is a very important matter for people travelling in Europe and I do that often. I spent several hours researching what has been said on the news and the regulations and decided to share the information with people that may be interested in the topic. I was also expecting to receive constructive feedback but it seems like it may not be the place.
So please, if you answer provide useful information. If not restrain yourself.
You have no idea how many times NAT has given valid and helpful Information, so I ́d be a bit more constructive in your feedback instead of complaining?
well Euro now pass everything onto Ecollect.ch who will inundate you with threatening letters, then inundate you with special offers for you to pay - as we know you are having financial hardship, the inundate you with more threats.
Ecollect will quote various EU laws and treaties as to why you should pay, a quick google shows switzerland never signed up to any of them (but did host the meetings)
fortunately we need a lot of paper to keep the fire running at this time of year.
Thank you, that's what I found ad well and I appreciate the confirmation. For now I will ignore the fines
I travelled to Budapest by car a few months back for a weeks holiday .... on the way bought a vignette valid for 10 days from a highway petrol pump ...stuck it to my windscreen .. I thought I was in the clear now .. After coming home I removed the vignettes ... Surprised and angry today as I have now received two fines from EPC PLC of around 80 CHF each (total 160 CHF) for two separate days .. they day I was going there and the day I was coming back ... As evidence they have shown pictures of my car .. but surprisingly the wind screen is completely black .. almost like photoshopped ....it shows no vignette .. not even my swiss vignettes can be seen (i have six swiss highway stickers from different years all stuck on the windscreen) .. the threating letter says that i was either not using a vignette or it maybe an invalid vignette ..
it says that the fine will be 200 chf (means chf 400 for the two instances) if I do not pay up .. I found this really unjust ...
I have no experience and do not know if I should pay up ..I do not want a betreibung .. but at the same time i do not want to succumb to this kind of injustice ..
Any suggestions
Unless something has recently changed, there are no physical vignettes (those that attach to the screen) in Hungary. You just need to buy a receipt and keep it in the car. Simple and good solution. Hope they haven't changed it.
I had bought a sticker kind of vignette for around 9 euros at one of the petrol stops at the border before entering Hungary .... i simply stuck the sticker onto my car ... the sticker was more like a white paper bill ..maybe it was a coupon receipt which i should have kept for later ... i threw it away. ..anyways i dont have anything as an evidence to prove .. probably will pay the fine