Hello Euro truckers,
Quick question. Whilst on holiday in Florence last June I unwittingly drove “along lanes for public transport only”. I wasn’t aware of my crime until I opened todays post.
The Polizia now want E105.85 off me, within 20 days.
Can anybody help me regards whats the best course of action with this. Ignore it? Request photographic evidence? Plead foreign ignorance?
Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks.
YOU would be better off paying it , why because
if they have gone to the trouble of finding you they
want they money, ,Or you could just for get it and
hope they will as well, but if you go to Italy again
and get checked you may have a unwelcome surprise
PAY the Fine it is the easiest way,
I would have to agree with Pete here, I think you will only store up more grief if you ignore it. How were you caught, on camera?
Harry Monk:
I would have to agree with Pete here, I think you will only store up more grief if you ignore it. How were you caught, on camera?
I don’t know HM. All they’ve sent me is a sheet of A4 paper. It gives details of reg no, time and street but nothing else, except a long list of “how to pay”. 
Thats why I was wondering if I should request some photographic proof?
We were definatly driving in Florence that day, I don’t recall doing it but its more than possible.
you can ask for photo evidence, but it may then incur a
extra handling charge, I would say pay upend of story.
I personally have never known the Italians to do this, fine a driver after the event, having traced a registration number, it’s a bit worrying to think they can now catch up in this way.
Hmmmm…sounds to me like a possible scam!!
Where do you have to go to pay this “fine”?
Is it to the Italian embassy■■?..or send it to a postal address in Italy somewhere??
If it was payable at the embassy (and it should be!!) then it sounds legit, equally if it was a request to post off a cheque to Via whatever, in Italy then I would be well suspicious!!
Wouldnt be the first time, especially if someone has your details from a hire car!!
As you say, no photographic evidence etc…sounds dodgy!
I would contact the Italian Emabassy first and take it from there. 
Forgot to add…what ever you do, dont admit ANYTHING without some sort of proof!!..ESPECIALLY WHEN ON THE PHONE TO THE EMBASSY!!!
When you get a fine in italy its usualy a carbon print out i have never seen a fine on a A4 paper , There would be a italia transport athority at the top with a etex machine number. sounds Dodgy.
There is a link to emo.nivi.it I put in the password and user name they gave me and its just the same information as on the letter.
Looking again at the letter, under ‘Subject’ its got;
NOTICE OF PAYMENT BEFORE THE NOTIFICATION
(art.201 of the leg.decree 30/04/92 n.285 and art.385 rules of execution)
The letterhead says “Polizia Municipale, Comune Di Firenze”.
It wants me to pay directly to their bank ‘Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze’ which checks out as a kosher bank.
It does have an ‘IBAN’ number, which someone else mentioned before.
I’m going to sit on it for a couple of days and perhaps e-mail them for some pictures.
Coffeeholic:
Beware traffic fines from Italy
I could almost bet that its the ■■■■■ that are hiring out the car to you sending you out these dodgy letters for fines etc and its all a scam. Set up a bank account etc etc and its a nice little earner for any NON_Italians that hire there cars.
one of our lads got fined last year in milan, he had been parked outside drop waiting to go in and they took a photo of him no ticket on the lorry just a letter in the post.
the way to pay was in the post office here in spain so maybe thats an agreement they have reached so surely if they can find you in the UK they should have some sort of agreement for you to be able to pay in the UK not send off to a bank in italy that might be a scam
write to them ASAP. ask for advanced disclosure including photographic evidence for the ALLEDGED offence.
make sure you say alledged. if you just write the offence of xxxxxxx. then it is normally interpreted as an admission of guilt.
you will create more hassle for yourself if you do nothing. you must get your letter off to them within the time limits set out in their letter.
however, you could point out to them that article 6 of the human rights act points out, that all people have the right to remain silent in the face of an accusation for a criminal offence. so by paying the fine would equate to being forced to admit guilt and breaking your right to silence.
the photographic evidence may show the back end of the vehicle. if that is the case, then how do they know you was driving at the time? it could have been you or another person, who was sharing the driving with you. the trouble is, you can’t remember who was actually driving at the time of the alledged offence.
I did a search of Italy driving fines scams.
tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g1 … scany.html
honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/ … tm?t=47131
Not sure if it will help but it seems quite a few people are in the same boat as you. Cheers
Cheers for all the advice. I will e-mail them Monday and go from there.
hammer:
Cheers for all the advice. I will e-mail them Monday and go from there.
Hi hammer,
A ‘casa di resparmio’ is approx the Italian equivalent of a building society, so the name seems kosher up to now…
You could always ask your own bank to check out the IBAN number and see who holds that account, then you’d be much nearer to a proper confirmation.
Another way to check this would be for you to contact the Italian embassy/consulate here in the UK and maybe fax them a copy of the paperwork that you’ve received. They’d soon be able to tell you whether it’s genuine. 
I use another forum where this happened to a car driver who is married to a woman from the town, it was a genuine fine and his advise was to pay it if you want to go back to Italy again…they make masses of money out of unsuspecting tourists and visitors, signage for some of the restrictions are very hard to spot and even catch the locals out.
jimti:
I use another forum where this happened to a car driver who is married to a woman from the town, it was a genuine fine and his advise was to pay it if you want to go back to Italy again…they make masses of money out of unsuspecting tourists and visitors, signage for some of the restrictions are very hard to spot and even catch the locals out.
Would that not be entrapment
S80RTE:
jimti:
I use another forum where this happened to a car driver who is married to a woman from the town, it was a genuine fine and his advise was to pay it if you want to go back to Italy again…they make masses of money out of unsuspecting tourists and visitors, signage for some of the restrictions are very hard to spot and even catch the locals out.Would that not be entrapment
Quite possibly entrapment, but only under the British Court systems, not necessarily under the Italian system.
Update:
I’ve emailed em twice asking for a photo.
As yet no acknowledgment…