Just received what looks like a speeding ticket!

v-deniso

Hi,

I opened up my mail today to be greeted with what looks like a speeding ticket from Basel in Switzerland. Its all in German and seems to have information pertaining to a hire car that I was using exactly one month previously 300+km away in the north of Germany.

There are no photos of me in the car when the offence took place attached to the letter. All they seem to want is €116 for the offence.

Obviously this is a case of mistaken identity so should I contact the hire company, the Swiss police or just leave the matter go?

Your guess is as good as mine!

Alun

I'd contact the hire company first. The ticket would have first gone to them as registered owners of the car, and they would have determined (incorrectly it would seem) that you were driving at the time and would have either just passed it directly onto you, or passed on your details to the Swiss police. Who was the letter from, can you tell? Don't just ignore it if you ever plan on going to Switzerland again

niallb

You could be about to uncover an international car hire
"ringer" fraud!

Do you have the record of the license number of the car you hired in Germany?
Any credit card transactions around the time the speeding ticket was issued showing you weren't there?

If it's the same license number and the same time you were
in the north, either someone's running (at least) two cars on the same plate, or someone's got a really clever scam going.
If it had been sent from Germany, you'd possibly have paid it.

Who are you supposed to pay the €116 to anyway?

Alternatively, it could just be mistaken identity,
but that would be boring :-)

NiallB

whippet

is the 'requesting' authority .. a real authority ?

could it be someone chancing their arm after getting hold of a Car hire companies data base?

seamus

Send it back with a photocopy of the original invoice (and any other receipts, etc you may have that prove you weren't at that place at that time), send it in English.

JungleBunny

As far as I know they also need to have a picture of you to prove it was you driving the car. I would call just to be on the safe side.

pauln

Also, I think the EU is looking at making ticket inforcement a europe wide thing so if you where to just leave it sit it could come back on you in the future.

John R

pauln wrote:

Also, I think the EU is looking at making ticket inforcement a europe wide thing so if you where to just leave it sit it could come back on you in the future.

If/when that does happen backdating is highly unlikely.

And beside Switzerland isn't in the EU and aren't likely to be within any of our lifetimes; far too much stolen/laundered/nazi money stashed away that would be at risk.



I wouldn't send anything without verifying that it is legit first, there has been an ongoing fraud from the UK with parking/speeding fines on foreign cars.

Even if this is legit they cannot make a judgement against you in a Swiss court and pursue you here. They would have to extradite you back there, not likely for a speeding fine.

slumped

seamus wrote:

Send it back with a photocopy of the original invoice (and any other receipts, etc you may have that prove you weren't at that place at that time), send it in English.

Or better still, send it back "As Gaelige" ! It will be a while before they get it translated!

S

PlayaFlow

make your life easy ....throw it away.

BrianD

Be careful! There was a speeding ticket scam in operation in spain where you would get a notice from some third party with a load of mumbo jumbo that they were collecting on behalf of some local authority.

If you were in Switzerland you passport would be stamped with entry/exit as its not in the EU. That's one line of defense.

Also when you hire a car you, in most cases, give the hire company authorisation to take speeding fines from your credit card account. Usually with an admin charge I might add.

Send a copy to the Swiss Embassy and ask if it is genuine. Better still, scan a copy and let us all have a goo!

murphaph

PlayaFlow wrote:

make your life easy ....throw it away.

That's a pretty stupid idea. I've been passport checked entering Switzerland by road. If and I say If it's legit, then you could be tried in absentia and found guilty. Ok, extradition is unlikely but they could arrest you on the spot if you tried to enter Switzerland again. It's obviously a mistake/scam but it's in your interests to sort it, not ignore it.

Alun

Maybe you could scan it in. There are enough people here with sufficient German (including me!) who could tell pretty quickly whether this was genuine or not. I also know a Swiss person here who could take a look too.

ZENER

BrianD wrote:

. . . Better still, scan a copy and let us all have a goo!

I prefer this idea

ZEN

mackerski

BrianD wrote:

If you were in Switzerland you passport would be stamped with entry/exit as its not in the EU. That's one line of defense.

Not in all cases. You can be waved through, so a missing stamp doesn't prove a whole lot.

Dermot

FX Meister

Or the rental company may charge your credit card. It's happened to my parents and my sister in Aus and NZ.

is_that_so

That's standard in France as well if the car gets a ticket. The hire company will debit the credit card. Get the thing translated to verify if it's real.

PlayaFlow

Sigh ....just throw de bleedin' yoke away.

viking

Was it sent to you by registered post?

If not then there is no record of you having received it, so chuck it.

Imposter

Don't chuck it.
First of all verify it is legit. Get someone who understands german to translate it. Then either go to/ring the swiss embassy or go to your local garda station with the proof of when you were there, your rental info etc. They should be able to help you in some way.

German speeding fines also come with a photo of the front of the car which means the driver should be visible.
Edit: Just reread it's a Swiss fine so not sure on the pic situation there.

v-deniso

Thanks for all your replies,

I am going to go to the Swiss embassy and see if it is legitimate. I know the problem lied at the door of the rental company as the date that the offence took place is exactly 1 month to the day after I rented the car, so obviously its and admin issue on their side.

Thanks again

Victor

v-deniso wrote:

I am going to go to the Swiss embassy and see if it is legitimate. I know the problem lied at the door of the rental company as the date that the offence took place is exactly 1 month to the day after I rented the car, so obviously its and admin issue on their side.

I'd go with that.

The Garda probably have no interest unless it is fraud.

causal

v-deniso wrote:

I am going to go to the Swiss embassy and see if it is legitimate. I know the problem lied at the door of the rental company as the date that the offence took place is exactly 1 month to the day after I rented the car, so obviously its and admin issue on their side.

From the BBC News website

Snowmobile gets UK parking ticket
A Swedish man has been issued with a £90 (1,211 kronor) ticket for illegally parking his snowmobile in Warwick.

But Krister Nylander, who lives on a farm in Bollstabruk, 205 miles north of Stockholm, said he had never been to the town and would not be paying up.

Mr Nylander said the ticket was issued by Euro Parking Collection showing his snowmobile was parked illegally for three hours in Warwick on 22 June.

"The snowmobile is in my barn. It has never left Sweden," the mechanic said.

Mr Nylander said all the information on the ticket was correct, including the make of the snowmobile and the licence plate number.

Euro Parking Collection, a London-based company which collects parking fines issued to foreign registered vehicles, was unavailable for comment.

Maybe an error, maybe not. But I don't like the vibe from any company that doesn't comment on their errors.

causal

Victor

causal wrote:

Maybe an error, maybe not. But I don't like the vibe from any company that doesn't comment on their errors.

http://www.limerick-leader.ie/issues/20050730/index.html

The Irish Times was unavailable for comment despite numerous attempts to contact them.

Although did the IT make an error?

causal

LOL, I'd say they were all too busy laughing, I know I am
The funniest part is that the Limerick Leader reproduced the offensive cartoon for all their readers to enjoy

imho O'Dea deserves a good slagging - for looking like Grouch Marx:


.

embraer170

I'm 'familiar' with Swiss speeding tickets so if you could scan it.

embraer170

As far as I know they also need to have a picture of you to prove it was you driving the car. I would call just to be on the safe side.

Not in Switzerland. Most (all?) speed cameras take pictures of the rear of your car. Also the latest one is they record the time you enter a motorway tunnel, record the time you exit it and calculate your speed .... a few weeks later you get your ticket.

If you were in Switzerland you passport would be stamped with entry/exit as its not in the EU. That's one line of defense.

The Swiss refuse to stamp European passports and will only stamp most others 'on request'. Crossing the border by road you won't even be checked 99 times out of 100.