Oh joy of joys, I've collected my first parking ticket!
Walking back to my car in Vara de Rey after lunch with a friend in town recently I saw something on the windscreen. In a forlorn hope of it being a nightclub flyer I looked at the other cars in the street. All without these annoying pieces of litter, I knew straightaway that the bill lunch I'd just eaten had increased by the princely sum of 45€. Curses!
I only had myself to blame of course. I'd bought a ticket but, chatting over coffee, the time slipped my mind. 10 minutes over the time limit! What rotten luck!
Then more deep joy! The instructions on how to pay were written in Catalan, of which I know nothing, and Spanish, of which I know little. In a sulk I put the ticket in my pocket and drove off. I'll pay it later. Make 'em wait. Curses again!
The phone rang. It was my friend Carla, with whom I had been having a wonderful lunch not thirty minutes before. In a bizarre coincidence she returned to where she'd left her car only to discovered it had been towed away!
Also a lover of the book 'The meaning of Liff', we have a new word for that dictionary of mirth, from the hamlet with the same name in Cambridgeshire.
'Shellow Bowells' (noun):
The knot of self-doubt in the pit of your stomach when, returning to where you parked your car, you first realise that it's missing. You gaze up and down the road scratching your head muttering "but I know I parked it here" to yourself. Eventually you resign yourself to the sinking feeling of fact that it's either been towed away, or worse, stolen.
A few days later, and in a calmer and more reflexive mood, I went to the address where I needed to pay 'la multa' (the fine). Eventually I found it but it was boarded up. Men wearing the obligatory hard hats running up and down the scaffolding outside looking extremely busy.
I wandered past the 'scene of the crime' from a few days earlier and bought myself a coffee in a near-by café to have a re-think. A Spanish friend of mine strolled past joined me for ten minutes on his way to work. Miguel speaks excellent English and so I showed him the penalty notice.
Miguel has had several tickets before and knows the drill. He explained that to pay the fine I simply had to go into any bank listed on the back of the ticket within 21 days of issue and pay it over the counter. Easy.
In a sort of throw-away voice he then said "I guess you were over your hour then?"
I looked at him, quizzically.
"Si" he continued "if you pay 3€ within an hour of the ticket being issued the penalty is cancelled"
My shaking head fell into my hands. I just stared at my coffee cup, a look of incredulity on my face, a feeling of complete despair and for once utterly speechless.
Miguel then proceeded to explain what I should have done, as I'd returned to the car within the time allowed for prompt action. So, if you want to avoid feeling of hopelessness I experienced, and not furnish the coffers of the local council unnecessarily, please read on:
What is important here is that this action must all be taken within an hour of the parking fine being issued, not the time that the original ticket expired.
1. Go back to the parking meter.
2. You'll see 4 buttons. Press the green button to change language to English.
3. Press the blue button for fine payment and deposit 3€
4. You'll be issued with a receipt proving the time and fine paid.
5. Put that receipt, and the original ticket, into the envelope with the parking fine. It is vital that you rip off the proof of payment stub from the receipt before you seal it in the envelope. Retain this safely. Problems may arise and this will be all you'll have as proof of payment.
6. Post the envelope and contents into the parking meter.
Still have a lot to learn.
Like I said, "Curses!"
Just a minute!