My husband and I vacationed in Italy last summer and a few weeks ago I received a traffic ticket in the mail from EMO (European Municipal Outsourcing). The notice says that it's a "Statement of Contravention of the Italian Highway Code" and the violation is for "Art. 7C 1/14A - The vehicle crossed a limited hours area outside of authorized hours".
Is this a legitimate ticket? My husband and I were in Arezzo on the violation date that is shown on the ticket, but it seems strange to me that the ticket wasn't sent through the rental car agency or police station. The ticket is for ~ EU 100. What will happen if we don't pay it?
I can't really answer your question...but it reminds me about when I got a ticket in Miami. We had a hotel where we didn't have enough parking space for all the guest. And one night when we got back to the hotel there were no more parking spaces. So I tried to park it the best way I could...right behind the other cars and on the pavement to get out of the street and I just left a note in the window saying that people could come and wake me up if I was blocking them. The next morning when I got up at like 8 I had gotten two tickets...1 for parking on the sidewalk and 1 for blocking the exit for the other cars. In total this added up to about 60$ so it was a pretty expensive parking. And I had gotten the parking tickets at like 5.30 in the morning I did pay the tickets by the way.
If you don't pay it will go back to the rental car company and they will contact you and demand payment.
Certain areas have ZTL zones which are zones with limited traffic. Only certain cars may pass and they must have permission.
I didn't know that they have a whole dept. for European tickets. Quite honestly, I would contact the vigile in Arezzo and double check that this is a valid ticket (I am sure it is but better to be safe).
Sandy, last June (2005) we got a parking ticket in Lucca that shocked us. We ended up not paying and haven't been tracked down... yet anyway. (It may have helped that we were driving a car leased in France with French tags.) You can read our story here and the various advice/experience shared by other Slow Travelers.
Kathy, it can take up to 18 months for the ticket to get to you as it is first sent to the rental agency who then has to send info back to the people who wrote the ticket to have them contact the person who got the ticket.
They are getting very good about tracking people down. Spoke with someone on our vacation a few weeks ago from Denmark who got a ticket last year in Italy, ignored it, went back to DK and 8 months later got hte ticvket in the mail and it was double the original price.
I actually got a speeding ticket in Italy. The best thing to do to avoid additional penalties for late payment is to go ahead and pay it now. You can get a € draft from your bank. They will track you down!
Posts: 347 | Location: Philadelphia | Registered: 04 November 2004
Got a speeding ticket two years ago (not sure how we were going faster than anyone else on the autostrada, but guess we were) and a parking ticket this year.
In both cases, just treated it as part of the vacation expenses, paid the fine, and moved on.
Guess my thought is "Why risk it?" in regards to problems with future car rentals or increased fines.
Posts: 1180 | Location: Northern Virginia | Registered: 22 May 2006
Topic Closed
I did pay the tickets by the way.
