Speeding Ticket From Spain - Should I Pay It?
- Thread starter albert
- Start date
I'm thinking it might be legit, but would certainly contact the hire company first. If you google
EUROPEAN MUNICIPALITY OUTSOURCING there's a fair bit of info about them.
Soldato
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Wow, that website though. 
Soldato
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That website screams scam. Check the card you paid for the hire car on, they'd likely charge you for the honour of passing your details on to the traffic plod. The letter written in English is also suspicious.
its perfectly normal.Just becuase you live in a different country doesn't make you above the law.
Soldato
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I wouldn't.
Would they actually pursue you if you didn't, I very much doubt it.
Would they actually pursue you if you didn't, I very much doubt it.
Here's an interesting article from the Telegraph, pasted here for convenience.
Italian traffic fines
Nigel Daly, East Grinstead, West Sussex, writes
Last August I hired a car from Hertz and drove into Florence. Now, nine months later, I have received a letter from the municipal police there containing a "Notice of Payment before the Notification" of €101.20 for contravention of the Italian Highway Code for "circulated [sic] on roads reserved for other vehicles and indicated by traffic signs".
The notice says that I can pay the fine online through a website, www.emo.nivi.it, or by bank transfer. If I don't pay, it says: "We will proceed to make an official notification according to the International Conventions in force in your country… All the expenses will be charged to your account." Is this a con? I am suspicious for several reasons. First, it has taken over nine months to reach me; second, there is no address on the notice; and, third, the use of a credit agency – EMO – to collect the fine.
Gill Charlton replies
Unfortunately for you, this isn't a swindle. You must have strayed into a "zona traffico limitato" (ZTL) in Florence. When you enter these zones – which exist in many Italian cities – a camera takes a photograph of the licence plate. If the plate doesn't appear on the list of permitted vehicles, a fine is automatically issued.
About 600 ZTL fines are issued each day in Florence, raising a useful €25 million a year.
Hertz will have given your address to the Florence police. The police then have up to 360 days to tell you about the fine, and you have 60 days to pay or to appeal against it.
If you were staying at a hotel inside a ZTL, it is worth appealing. Send the dated hotel bill with a letter explaining the circumstances and the fine should be cancelled.
City centre hotels should provide customers with temporary access permits for the ZTL, but you must tell them that you have come by car. The permits are valid for two hours on arrival and on departure.
Not paying Italian traffic fines is generally considered a bad idea.
Although European Municipality Outsourcing (EMO), based in Italy, is not a debt collector (it simply translates the documents and issues the notices), failure to pay is a criminal offence in Italy.
The police can – and sometimes do – ask the car rental company to pay. Repaying Hertz will cost you a lot more than paying the original fine.
European Parking Collection (EPC), which is based in Britain, acts for 400 councils in Europe and has recently advised the Florentine police. It says the issue of enforcability remains a problem.
"If a fine is issued by the police, it can be enforced under Italy's criminal law," a spokesman said. "However, in our experience it's unlikely that a one-off ZTL fine will be pursued through the courts. But if someone has five or more outstanding fines, that's a different matter."
EPC says offenders may be blacklisted by car hire companies until the fine is paid.
If you offend while driving your own car, you risk being stopped by the police on your next visit and made to pay a much higher fine.
They can also obtain your address from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
using a UK-based collection agency.
Italian traffic fines
Nigel Daly, East Grinstead, West Sussex, writes
Last August I hired a car from Hertz and drove into Florence. Now, nine months later, I have received a letter from the municipal police there containing a "Notice of Payment before the Notification" of €101.20 for contravention of the Italian Highway Code for "circulated [sic] on roads reserved for other vehicles and indicated by traffic signs".
The notice says that I can pay the fine online through a website, www.emo.nivi.it, or by bank transfer. If I don't pay, it says: "We will proceed to make an official notification according to the International Conventions in force in your country… All the expenses will be charged to your account." Is this a con? I am suspicious for several reasons. First, it has taken over nine months to reach me; second, there is no address on the notice; and, third, the use of a credit agency – EMO – to collect the fine.
Gill Charlton replies
Unfortunately for you, this isn't a swindle. You must have strayed into a "zona traffico limitato" (ZTL) in Florence. When you enter these zones – which exist in many Italian cities – a camera takes a photograph of the licence plate. If the plate doesn't appear on the list of permitted vehicles, a fine is automatically issued.
About 600 ZTL fines are issued each day in Florence, raising a useful €25 million a year.
Hertz will have given your address to the Florence police. The police then have up to 360 days to tell you about the fine, and you have 60 days to pay or to appeal against it.
If you were staying at a hotel inside a ZTL, it is worth appealing. Send the dated hotel bill with a letter explaining the circumstances and the fine should be cancelled.
City centre hotels should provide customers with temporary access permits for the ZTL, but you must tell them that you have come by car. The permits are valid for two hours on arrival and on departure.
Not paying Italian traffic fines is generally considered a bad idea.
Although European Municipality Outsourcing (EMO), based in Italy, is not a debt collector (it simply translates the documents and issues the notices), failure to pay is a criminal offence in Italy.
The police can – and sometimes do – ask the car rental company to pay. Repaying Hertz will cost you a lot more than paying the original fine.
European Parking Collection (EPC), which is based in Britain, acts for 400 councils in Europe and has recently advised the Florentine police. It says the issue of enforcability remains a problem.
"If a fine is issued by the police, it can be enforced under Italy's criminal law," a spokesman said. "However, in our experience it's unlikely that a one-off ZTL fine will be pursued through the courts. But if someone has five or more outstanding fines, that's a different matter."
EPC says offenders may be blacklisted by car hire companies until the fine is paid.
If you offend while driving your own car, you risk being stopped by the police on your next visit and made to pay a much higher fine.
They can also obtain your address from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
using a UK-based collection agency.
I had this after a trip to Italy in August last year. I had a letter from the hire car company saying that they had passed my details on to the Italian police and I should expect a letter and a fine. Their letter (the car hire company) came with a charge of EUR50 for admin. I never paid it, and never heard anything again.
Soldato
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