Spanish fine

Blankie

Apologies if this is in the wrong place.

My friend rang me yesterday. He mentioned he'd got a fine from Spain in the post.

The story is that he was out at 4am in Spain on the morning after the Champions League final. A policeman came behind him and flashed him. He thinks the police saw his hire car and assumed he was on his way home from a bar. My friend didn't pull over at first because it wasn't a police car, just an ordinary car, that was flashing him and he was suspicious.

After a while the policeman got out and showed him his gun on his belt and my friend pulled over!

He was breathalised (three times) but it was negative (as he hadn't been to a bar, he'd just got up early). The policeman said he was free to go.

Six months later a letter arrives asking for 450 Euros fine. It's all in Spanish but he reckons it's about him not pulling over when initially asked to.

The reason I'm posting is that he said he's going to ignore it because he did nothing wrong and they can't get the money. Is he right? Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Cheers.

pinkshoes

I would suggest he gets it translated and goes to CAB to ask their advice.

Also, read THIS.

Apparently non-spanish residents should be made to pay any fine on the spot.

Blankie

Thanks pinkshoes!

I don't know anyone who could translate. He tried babelfish, but I know it's not great to be honest.

I can't believe they said he was free to go, then thought up something afterwards...that can't be right, and according to your link it sounds dodgy too.

LeeSouthEast

Did he give this policeman his address in the UK at the time? Sounds rather fishy to me.

neilmcl

LeeSouthEast wrote: »

Did he give this policeman his address in the UK at the time? Sounds rather fishy to me.

Why does it sound fishy. They could quite easily trace him from the hire car company.

Blankie

I assume it was through the car hire company. I think it sounds fishy though...like they're just trying it on.

TonyMMM

Depends if your friend is planning on visiting Spain again - if not, he can probably ignore it.

If he is going there again and is unlucky, he may find he gets arrested at the airport and spends time in a Spanish jail for not paying the fine.

ShaneUK

Can you scan in a copy of the letter? Although I don't speak Spanish, my girlfriend can, and I can ask her to translate it. Otherwise, there will be others on here that will be able to translate it.

pinkshoes

I think it's important he gets it translated. As suggested above, post it on here and hopefully a spanish speaking person will let you know what it says. I can only manage French and German!

It does sound strange that it was from the police, as they would have issued an on the spot fine, so hopefully the translation will provide a clue...

Blacksheep1979

Have you ever considered the fact that the conman (or woman), if it is a con, may actually speak good spanish and be able to put together a passable attempt at a formal letter? Just getting someone to translate it isn't really going to help here.

brightonman123

babelfish.yahoo.com may be able (babel!) to translate small aounts of text, for free.