Belgian car drivers receive high fines in London after illegally obtaining personal data. There is no legal basis for payment.
Oct 23 (Telegraph News) – It was great news for circus company Cie Krak: for the first time they had been asked to do an art project from Great Britain. Although this was accompanied by a lot of bureaucratic hassle to get their material past customs due to Brexit, they were good days, says circus artist Dieter Missiaen. The hangover came afterward. At the beginning of October, a letter arrived in the mail, sent from Malmö in Sweden, but written in Dutch, containing two fines for driving a Euro 5 vehicle in London’s low-emission zone.
Missiaen was not surprised by the fine itself but by the amount: twice 1,219.65 euros. To be paid before October 22, otherwise, the amount would double to 2,439 euros. If payment was not made before November 9, or no objection was submitted, each fine increased to 3,658 euros. That’s a lot of money for oblivion.
The fine turned out to have been issued by the collection agency Euro Parking Collection PLC, which specializes in identifying and collecting traffic fines for foreign vehicles. Upon checking the website, Missiaen discovered that it had actually been flashed, with a photo of the car and number plate, but that the type of vehicle was stated as ‘unknown’. As a result, he received the highest fine, for heavy trucks from 3.5 tons.
