Hey all
This morning my car was on the verge of being towed away by the police and a towing company because it was parked at a spot where it couldn’t be parked. Apparently, this morning they started putting fiber in our street so the parking spots couldn’t be occupied.
Last Saturday night I parked my car there and hadn’t used it since. I saw one of those signs indicating you couldn’t park, but they always put a date on it and it had no date. I literally, carefully looked to see if any date was mentioned but nope so I was like well I guess they still have to be written down so I parked there with what happened this morning as a result.
The police dropped the €50 fine but the towing company had to be paid which was €180. They told me I could complain to the town hall if I didn’t agree, and that it sometimes gets paid back if there’s a valid reason for it.
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Later today after coming back from work I checked the signs again, and I suddenly realized why on Saturday night I didn’t see any mentioned date.
Check here: [https://imgur.com/a/EVoseaq](https://imgur.com/a/EVoseaq)
Black marker on a blue background ánd a nonexisting date this year (29/02 doesn’t exist).
This image was taken with a Pixel 7 which takes really great pictures in the dark, it’s way less bright there than shown on that photo. I e-mailed the town hall to ask for a reimburse. Do you think I can file a complaint for this at the police or worst case, take it to court?
After being scammed on [Tweakers.net](https://Tweakers.net) last weekend, this felt like a brick to my face. 🙂
11 comments
I wanna hear the story about tweakers.net
Speaking from experience, you get several letters about the works for fiber. And the signs were there on Saturday already by your own admission. There’s no way you’ll be able to fight this and win.
Honestly I’m giving you a very low chance of success fighting that ticket. If the dates weren’t filled in I would assume the sign was for every day.
If in doubt (eg illegal signs placed) => [https://parkeerverbod.info/](https://parkeerverbod.info/)
Good luck fighting it.
You knew there were plates (without a date) and left your car for 5 days? Legally you can’t win because you have to check once every weekday. It will depend on the goodwill of your town, but legally theres no way to win and they’ll know that – so don’t bluff further action but instead convince them that the situation was extremely confusing
Given the erroneous date on the parking sign, you may be able to convince the city to reimburse the fees. That being said, if they don’t you need to ask yourself if taking this further is worth the time and expense involved. I’m not sure it would be. Unless you have legal assistance insurance (rechtsbijstand), in which case I’d advise you to call your insurer already.
If there is no date (visable) then you shouldnt have parked there at all.
> nonexisting date this year (29/02 doesn’t exist).
Since no year is mentioned, which should be obligatory, you should claim that you assume they put the markers there 365 days in advance. You could win this on a technicality.
The sign should have been there on the 28th, if it wasn’t you can fight it as it was unlawfully placed.
Je kan het ook aanvechten omdat die niet aan de normen voldeed. (Letters mogen niet zwart zijn, tenzij het papieren-bedrukte versie is met wit papier).
[link](https://www.politie.be/5388/vragen/vergunningen/vergunningen-voor-particulierenaannemers) .
Yeah, not the first time I hear stories like that. That’s why if I see suspicious plaques like that, I inspect and take pictures of the signs before I park – just to show to the police or people fining that I was in my right (and mostly making sure I don’t experience such a “whoopsie”).
But yeah, if they filled in a date (even if poorly visible), you’re not gonna have a lot to fight with here.
good luck..
and if it is Elsene : don’t expect to get anything back, they didn’t even negotiate the prices with the towing company, they hate cars with a passion.