Fined and I don't know why!

Hi all,

It's been a while since we posted here as our adventure in Spain ended in August of last year when we came back to the UK.  Our rental agent from Spain recently sent us a Traffico fine that seems to say that we failed to produce our car related documents when we stopped in May of 2010.

The fine wasn't issued until the end of October (over 5 months since the alledged incident took place) and we only received a scanned copy of it this month.  Whilst we were in the area they say on the date and did see some Police on a roundabout, we were never stopped.  Even if we had been, I always make it a point to carry my documentation on me whenever I'm in the car - Just in case.

My questions are -

Does €300 seem excessive an amount to be charged for this 'infraction'?

I'm sure I recall reading something about minor fines being invalid if they aren't issued within 3 months - Which this one wasn't.  Is this the case or was that something that I made up?

On a related note - Is this indeed a minor offence?   I know that in the UK we have 7 days to produce our documents at a local Police Station, but am well aware that things are done "Oh So Differently" in Spain.

As we've been back in the UK for 8 months now, we're reluctant to pay for something that didn't even happen almost a year ago.  I was hoping that somebody on the forum here would have some advice or a similar experience.

Thank you all.

Hi, how do you know if this is your fine you need to check the dates you may well be paying some one else fine.?

A car hire company normaly take the fine direct from the credit card as in there t&c.

If it is a fine where does it say to pay, if it were me I would investigate this further as there are scams about?

We were living in Spain at the time and we owned the car that is on the documentation.  The document was sent to the address where we were living, had the correct name on it and the correct car details.

We were in the area that they say we were at the time, but were never stopped.

I just wondered if there was anything we could do or whether it's just the Police's word against ours and we are, basically, stuffed

Sorry I thought this was a rental car, Could be a speed camera or radar. as I say I think you should investigate this further.

Sorry I thought this was a rental car, Could be a speed camera or radar. as I say I think you should investigate this further.

Speaking from personal (and costly) experience, the time lag is not at all unusual.  And sorry, but I think that the idea of a statute of limitations of three months for minor traffic offences is wishful thinking - in spades!  

Normal procedure is that your first notification of an alleged offence would be a recorded delivery letter from the Trafico telling you what offence a driver of your car was being done for and, if Trafico were not present at the time of the offence (if, for example, your car was photographed for speeding) asking who was driving the car.  That would be sent to the address registered for the car; after which Trafico would issue the notice of a fixed penalty fine or the option of taking the matter to court.  So the October letter was almost certainly not the first one Trafico sent.  If you were not there, as obviously you were not, Correos would return the letter to Trafico.  But as far as the court is concerned, Trafico took all reasonable steps to notify you; you went away without informing the authorities of your new address.  You are therefore to blame for the delays in receiving notification In your case.  The fine letter was issued in October and deemed in Spanish law to have been received by you then.  So it will have had late payment penalties added since October, possibly more than once.  Again, under Spanish law you can't say that the fine relates to something that didn't happen.  If Trafico say it happened, then under Spanish law, it happened - unless you prove that it didn't happen.

You say that your "rental agent from Spain recently sent us a Traffico fine that seems to say that we failed to produce our car related documents when we stopped in May of 2010."  From what you've said, I suspect it was not for that but possibly for a moving traffic violation.   €300 is a bit stiff for moderate speeding but for going the wrong way round a roundabout for example, it is not.  So depends what the fine is for. 

No-one can advise you properly without seeing the letter.  If you type it in Spanish on here, we'll have a better idea.  Alternatively, if you want to scan and email it to me, say so and I'll send you an email address.

Hi Jek,

Thank you for a helpful reply and kind offer.  I think that the following is the relevant text.  My spoken Spanish was okay, but reading it was always a problem for me -

"No facilitar el titular o arrendatario del vehiculo. Debidamente requerido para ello, la identificacion veraz del conductor del mismo en el momento de ser cometida una infraccion. Procede del expediente 110600083271 de fecha 2010105108, hora 09:48, en via a -0383 k,m.:003.6, sentido la linea."

Now I know that we were in the area of La Linea on that day and probably about that time, so I can't argue with that bit, but I really don't know what they think I did.

Any help of translations would be great.

Thank you.

You say "on that date" but where do you get a date from 2010105108?  Presumably 2010/05/08?  8th of May 2010?

"Not providing (documents of) the owner or hirer of the car necessary to identify the driver of the car at the time of the infraction.  It then refers to a notice number ....... on the A383 (the road from the A7/E15 motorway down to La Linea) at km 3.6 going towards La Linea."  

Presumably the car number plate is mentioned in the letter.  It's unlikely to be mistaken identity as they will have got your address from their database based on the last address given for that registration.  If they can't identify the driver, the default is that they do the owner (who has to give permission for someone else to drive the car).   But this doesn't get you any clearer as to what you have done.  For that you are going to have to ask Trafico (in Cadiz?) for a copy of expediente 110600083271.  But your prospect of avoiding paying are pretty close to zero. 

The other difficulty is that you will have trouble paying if you are no longer in the country.  The letter should tell you where you can pay.  With mine, it was a specific bank and could only be done by a personal visit to the branch.  The added complication is that with the delay you are probably looking at €400 - €500 by now and you may need a fresh letter from Trafico. 

Sorry to be so negative and I could be wrong.  Others with better Spanish might tell you I've mistranslated.  It's a right pain and you have my sympathy. 

Traffico is on another planet when it comes to efficiency. They take months if not years to issue tickets, I've had several instances of never receiving the first fine and but getting a ticket for not identifying the driver!!! First one I ignored (been two years now) and the rest I simply pay.

I had a friend who had to go to traffico on an unrelated matter and found out his license had been suspended 8 months ago, he had no idea!!!! They never told him!!!!

Also like most forgeers I drove on non Spanish plates for several years till I got caught, Long story short got my car back and on Spanish plates. Eventually received two 450€ fines, the first for not showing my DL (how they impounded the car, and I was never asked for it when I went there) second for not registering the car

Regarding the first one, I went to traffico (with a friend) and his explanation was I didn't speak Spanish very well and didn't understand the officer, so the kind lady wrote some comments in my file and they cancelled the fine. Second time I ignored the fine, months latter I got anther one, same amount, well after the early pre-payment time I went in and they allowed me the discount if I paid on the spot sent an extra 12€ to get the cash out of the machine)!!! but I saved 30%

After living in Germany for 7 years the fines here are a tough adjustment, the biggest fine then (5 years ago) was 50€ for exceeding the limit by more than 50K (180 or more) and a month of no driving. Parking tickets were rarely more than 5€ sometimes it was cheaper not to pay.

I also read somewhere that there is a huge push to fine drivers of non spanish plates who get caught by speed cameras, and personally while I think the fines are steep it's better than hiking taxes elsewhere.