Should you pay a speeding fine from Spain once you're back in the UK?

Very true in what you say about intergration. I am now thinking of murder here and going back to the u.k. and see if I get off with it or will I have to plead insanity?

I hate to think what work you are going back to.

 nothing to do with law i hope

love the big words you use in your last post

does that make you a more intelligent person

just going to check my spelling

I managed to get a parking ticket in the UK ( parked in a shopping centre but did not see the 4 hour limit! ). The car hire company ( I was just visiting as I live in Spain ) paid the fine plus their admin fee from the credit card I used to hire the car. they informed me afterwards.

Best to pay. It's hard but it's the Law.

I like to be helpful, so a few pointers.

1.  Address the need for capital letters at the beginning of sentences and full stops at the end.

2.  'Integration' and not 'intergration.'

3.  Capital letters for U.K.

There are a few other little things, but I don't want to seem petty (although one may say, it is getting late in the day to worry about that!).

Hi Karen

Thanks for that.  I wouldn't be surprised if  they've taken the money from his credit card already, as you say.  I have advised his Dad to tell him to get all five boys to split the cost as it won't then be too painful.  Thanks again.

Eggcup

            Stop being so silly. 

You made a post which was ill considered and really had nothing to do with you  (asking if a friend's son in ‘our’ adopted country breaking the law can get away with the consequences of his unlawful acts). 

Don’t start now use long words to try and camouflage the facts, threatening to report us for making the replies which you have inspired, and thereby deliberately trying to change the subject you started.

Stick to the argument.  If you can..  Or apoligise for your unfounded attack on Spain.

Wow, this thread is sizzling!  Please cool down everyone, there really is no need for abusive comments.  

Firstly, the rental company will normally just take the fine directly from the credit card they have on file.  Your friend's son can then argue it out with whoever was driving in order to get their money back!

Secondly, the reason the fine is €300 is beause the driver is not identified.  Normally it would be much less if the person who was actually speeding put their hand up and said "it was me".  I assume as it's a hire car they may just automatically apply the "unknown driver" principle and charge the higher amount, especially as they can't put points on a foreign licence.

Now, everyone breathe and relax!!!

 Plus speeding fines in Spain are based on the % above the actual limit.  A pity this thread degenerated a bit but the point about it being taken from the credit card is valid (hence the reason car hire companies generally insist on a credit card for bookings).

The fines in Spain are far less than many other European countries.  France, for example, can lead to a complete ban, a jail sentence or up to 2,000 euros fine.

Just for interest, fines are levied in Spain in the following way (note that if they are paid by a non-resident immediately or by a resident within a certain time, they are reduced by half - a bit difficult with a speed camera, though.).  Also, to answer the question what if he had been doing 1km over the limit, he wouldn't have got a fine at all.

Speeding Fines and Penalties In Spain 

60 in a 50 zone, 100 in a 90 zone, 110 in a 100 zone and 132 in a 120 zone: No penalty 

61-80 in a 50, 121-130 in a 90, 111-130 in a 100, 133-152 in a 120: 100 fine, no points. 

81-90 in a 50, 121-130 in a 90, 131-140 in a 100, 153-162 in a 120: 140 fine, 2 points. 

131-140 in a 90, 141-150 in a 100, 163-172 in a 120: 200 fine, 3 points. 

141-150 in a 90, 151-165 in a 100, 173-198 in a 120: 300 fine, 4 points. 

91-97 in a 50, 151-158 in a 90, 166-174 in a 100, 199-208 in a 120: 380 fine, 6 points. 

98-104 in a 50, 159-166 in a 90, 175-183 in a 100, 219 to 218 in a 120: 450 fine, 6 points. 

105+ in a 50, 167+ in a 90, 184+ in a 100, 219+ in a 120: 520 fine, 6 points. 

Please not the bold bit which incurs a fine of €300.

 What made me a bit cross about the original question (and yes, my responses WERE a little cross, but they just didn't seem it in the light of the REALLY cross replies which followed!!!) .... is that last week on the flight back to the UK, during the safety announcements the kid (about 7) on the other side of the aisle was listening to music on his iPad (7-year olds have iPads?  I had to save up for mine and I'm a grown-up!).  Anyway the steward clearly said, now please turn off all electronic equipment, even if it has flight mode.  So the kid took his earphones out and was about to turn off the iPad.  Until his mum leaned over and said "Don't take any notice of her, you keep playing your games."  

Now on most flights, all you see of the stewards is the trolley round and the rubbish collection.  But on THREE flights this year there's been a medical emergency (it seems to be best not to travel with me .....).  And I've watched the team of stewards really function well to keep the sick passenger, the flight, and all the rest of us, safe and well.  And I objected hugely to this parent giving her child the clear message that despite the stewards being the uniformed people clearly in charge of the situation we were in, their instructions could be ignored.  I turned into the instant "grumpy ole woman" and muttered under my breath about bad parenting being the cause of all ills.

So in that context, apart from the fact that it's the right thing anyway, I objected to any option other than this young driver's parent telling him he must face up to his actions and pay the fine.

A just question,that made me laugh.

 Now this is interesting .................... in the USA if this happens, it is logged on your file, AS A CRIMINAL, & shows on chipped passports. If you return you are therefore refused entry & returned to whence you came. I do realise though that the Yanks can be OTT.

I was caught Speeding in Georgia, & suggested to the Officer I was travelling to Atlanta Airport to return to England, so would have difficulty paying. He then told me this, so I had a military friend in Florida check. He substantiated the information & paid the fine for me.

Imagine (& I don't know the answer) if they apply this elsewhere such as Spain.

Pay the fine.

What an interesting debate, originating from what looks (to me at least) to be a perfectly acceptable question in the first place. Obviously, everyone has their own moral and ethical positions on every issue, whether it be abortion, spelling, immigration or speeding. That's what makes the world an interesting place. None of us are perfect and we all either do things, say things or hold beliefs that wind others up. It's a pity though that we sometimes lose the ability to discuss these issues rationally, without spiraling into personal insults.

Related to this topic, last year, on return from Granada I recieved an email from Hertz to say during my car rental period there was an infringement reported to them by the Ayuntamiento and that I had to pay 30 Euros. Attached to the email was a very poor quality Fax copy of a Notificacion De Denuncia. Obviously this gave the details of the case, but even if it had been in English, it would have been difficult to read because of the quality. However, because the cost was small (and to be honest, I do recall getting slightly lost in the City centre and may have ventured into a Bus Lane) I transferred the money to Hertz.

Job sorted I believed, but something still prayed on my mind. The fuzzy Notificacion De Denuncia had a secondary sheet which clearly showed two figures, 40 Euros and 80 Euros. After some serious digging around on the internet it looked as though the 30 Euros I sent to Hertz may have only been their admin costs for transferring the Notificacion De Denuncia to me, and maybe I still had to pay 40 Euros (and more likely 80 Euros because of the delay) to the Ayuntamiento.

I tried to get clarification from Hertz but failed to get a reply to three separate emails and because the Notificacion De Denuncia was effectively illegible and in Spanish (please don't take that as an attack on the Spanish language !!), I have not taken the matter any further.

We will be back in the Alpujarras later this year, so it will be interesting to see if I am detained at the Airport whilst an enthusiastic official snaps on his long latex glove prior to "probing" me for the missing 80 Euros.

Hopefully, I will report back in due course.

JJ

Not to harp on about it Tamara, but it was not my friend's son who was driving.  It was just his name on the credit card which paid for the car hire and, from what several people on this Forum said, the money might well have already been taken off his card without him knowing.  When I told my friend yesterday afternoon about all the furore in response to my question (the swear words and insults flung at me have now been removed, so some people won't realise what strong and offensive language was used), my friend told me more details about the issue.  It turns out that his son and some of the other boys from the band had told the driver (their other friend) several times to 'slow down,' when he was driving, but he wouldn't listen.  He, however, is not the person whose credit card will be debited.  It seems my friend's son is completely blameless, but will probably now have to try and get the money back off the bad driver. 

And JJ, don't forget to let us know how you get on at the airport later in the year.  It was actually on Sky News yesterday morning about the police letting the big criminals (men who are wanted in the UK for serious crimes) enter Cyprus unhindered, but were focusing on people previously guilty of driving offences.  Perhaps others have some anecdotal evidence about this happening in Spain, because I've heard nothing on this subject.  (also: know anyone who wants to buy a nice 7,000 square metre piece of land with ruin in Las Barreras, Orgiva?  Had to ask if you're going to the Alpujarras!)

Dear All,

what a lot of total tosh in answer to a simple question, it does not seem to matter how reasonable the search for information.....

the loonies immediately jump in..........makes you wonder what they do the rest of the time and whether sunstroke has this as a "normal" side effect.

Long ago on holiday to Wales I was passing a car that veered somewhat towards me causing me to do likewise rather than emergency braking since there was no opposing traffic.

I had sufficient time to see the cause......a police car parked facing traffic on the grass but right on the kerb with a single policeman sitting on the wing over the front headlight enjoying the sun............plus?

It was a bank holiday and a roadworks site opposite was closed but the demarcation lines with works access were painted on the road centre and two of my wheels crossed over one of them.

I was then pursued at high speed by said police car having screamed a uturn in face of holiday traffic to catch me.........but not to pass me just to follow me for some time with all lights blazing. I eventually realised that perhaps he was hinting that I should stop for some reason, not yet known to me, on doing so we went through the usual ( I now realise) ritual of advising me of my transgression and giving me a ticket to produce at nearest police station. When I did so with complaint to the local sergeant. He sympathised and said it is just "revenue collection". I was of course fined.

Many many years later on returning from a Spanish Island resturant to hotel, late in the dead of night on a totally deserted road I turned right at a junction from a dual carrigeway at crawling slow speed, a deserted car to the left in darkness suddenly became a blaze of police light, followed me down the side road and stopped me. My transgression not coming to a complete halt below an unlit stop sign now pointed out to me by torchlight. Stop means stop he said and fined me on the spot. An expensive meal that day.

But of course today our corrupt police forces have auto detection to assist the revenue collection.

Regards

Norman

I must be a very lucky not to get upset with the police when I'm in the wrong. whena blue light comes up behind I make sure I am not in the way as he may want to pass me at the high speed I am doing Must be on a call I think and I never hold  a blue light up be it polivce ambulance or fire engine. Why then did you not let him through or slow down at the first site of the blue light.

but N.S is N.S

 As to why that person had to ask the question on the forum I'll never understand.

 You are wrong so one has to pay, the driver should be reported by the hirer of the car.

 The swear words are uncalled for but I still think that it was a stupid question

shame!!!, no wonder expats have bad reputation in Spain, just the thought of not paying denotes the caliber of this people

Hi Mac

You've made a very good point which I can pass on to my friend.  As you say, why should someone who was not driving have the money taken off their credit card, just because that is easy for the company to do?  That's not justice - and as I have also said, the fines are exorbitant.  I'll mention to my friend sending an email to threaten legal action.  Also, just had a thought - the credit card company would probably sort it out.  They did when a car company took a duplicate payment off us once.  If you hadn't made your contribution I wouldn't have thought of that.

Slightly changing the subject, when we were fined this year for turning right slowly and carefully, but not literally stopping and starting the car in the middle of a deserted road, I did assume that they were only targeting foreigners.  Expats can get paranoid in this regard.  In fact, the next day, they went up to our valley where a green uniform is hardly ever seen, so everyone does what the hell they like, and they camped on the road all day, getting all the locals as well.  Again, the process had very little to do with safety and justice - they weren't stopping people for dangerous driving, but rather to book them on any technicality they could find. 

It's a great shame that one of the main bodies charged with upholding justice implement such unfair policies.  It is also very detrimental to society as people will then not want to cooperate with the police when serious crimes are committed, having been treated so shabbily by them.  As I told the officer who fined us, he and his sort are the 'ruina de España.'  Also as the former deputy of Zapatero once said, corruption is the greatest problem facing democracy in Spain.  Whilst it might be disputed whether the actions of the police constitute corruption (we don't know if any of it lines their own pockets, e.g. when cash fines are paid), I believe it might be considered to be institutional corruption; it's certainly not justice.