600 Euro fine in lanzarote!!! anyone able to advise??

unforeseen

The hire company aren't involved. They provided the hirer's details to the Guardia Civil. The court case was against the hirer whole has been found guilty & fined €600.

Kirchenmaus

unforeseen wrote: »

The hire company aren't involved. They provided the hirer's details to the Guardia Civil. The court case was against the hirer whole has been found guilty & fined €600.

If this is the first the OP has heard of this proceeding, it would be incompatible with Article 6 of the ECHR to have denied him his right to a fair trial. "...Everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal..." There are other provisions in Article 6 relating to being informed, promptly and in detail about the nature of the accusation against him, and this must be done in a language the defendant understands. Maybe the "minutes from a court proceeding" mentioned by the OP is not a record of his conviction, but of his charge? In any case, the first step would be to write back and request that the documents be provided in English.

It is important for the OP to understand exactly what he has been charged with, and how it has been determined to charge him with it. One question I would have is who is liable for such offences? The person who parked the vehicle, or the hirer of the vehicle? Were enquiries made to determine the driver (e.g., like a s.172 request in the UK), or is it possible for the hirer to transfer liability (as it appears to have been for the hire company) by naming the driver now?

The hire company would usually charge an "admin fee" to respond to any official enquiry, and their terms and conditions would usually allow them to charge the hirer's credit card. It's worth checking the exact provisions of the hire agreement to see if this particular offence (and the police enquiry about it) would be covered by those provisions. If not, the credit card company should reverse the charge.

--Kirchenmaus

unforeseen

Your assumptions are based on the theory that UK law translates directly to a Spanish equivalent, not guaranteed to be the case

Spanish law allows for court proceedings to go ahead without he presence of the defendant.

Procedure for Misdemeanours

This is an easy and quick criminal procedure involving the prosecution of misdemeanors.

A misdemeanor case usually proceeds to trial on an information or a criminal complaint.
. Neither attorney at court nor the lawyer intervention is required.

The trial shall be held at the Court of Instruction (Juzgado de Instrucci!n) or before the Justice of Peace (Juzgado de Paz) of the district where the misdemeanor has been committed.

The parties usually submit their statements and outline of what they intend to prove in the same hearing.

The aggrieved party is entitled to claim for civil liability (responsabilidad civil) during the criminal process, it means that he may request compensation for the damages suffered.

The Public Prosecutor (“Fiscal”) will be involved in those cases that he must act ex officio or on an information. He could not act in those cases that the misdemeanor mayonly be prosecuted whenever the aggrieved party had stated a complaint against it.

In the event the defendant fails to appear at court at the time promised in the citation, the trial will usually continue, given that the citation was legally made. Adecision may nonetheless be entered against him as he is considered to agree with the facts the claimant state. Where it is the claimant who does not attend the court on the day named, the case will then be filed.

You may present your appeal to the original court that passed the sentence, it will be the higher court which shall reconsider the case.

beamerguy

unforeseen wrote: »

Your assumptions are based on the theory that UK law translates directly to a Spanish equivalent, not guaranteed to be the case

Spanish law allows for court proceedings to go ahead without he presence of the defendant.

UK county courts also allow this hence the number
of CCJ's issued

With the best will in the world, I doubt that anyone on
here could give you advice about spanish law

You need to find out what will happen if you
do not pay the fine so maybe a lawyer versed
in spanish law

System

Not an expert on Spanish law but do have Spanish family. I can tell you that if there is an outstanding issue when entering Spain (where there are checks) you do run the risk of it being flagged and having a free night's accommodation.

Whether you want to spend €600 to avoid the issue is your choice. It more a potential inconvenience rather than a hard legal issue.

Coupon-mad

You might like to post on the Legal Beagles forum/website which covers more general queries than just 'parking'.

Kirchenmaus

unforeseen wrote: »

Your assumptions are based on the theory that UK law translates directly to a Spanish equivalent, not guaranteed to be the case

Spanish law allows for court proceedings to go ahead without he presence of the defendant.

I haven't made any assumptions. The ECHR definitely applies to Spain, so the question is whether this was the only correspondence the OP has received from the Spanish authorities, or if there had been previous proceedings which he had not attended. If the latter, the OP needs to understand if the proper Spanish procedures were indeed followed. I don't know what those procedures are, so I cannot comment.

I do know, for example, that one of the required steps in an Italian traffic prosecution is for the accused to have been served with a notice of prosecution using registered post and a signature obtained on delivery. If this does not happen (n.b., don't sign for anything!) then the correct procedure has not been followed. Something similar might be required in Spain, in which case any proceedings that nevertheless take place would be flawed and, perhaps, challengeable on that basis.

blablubb99

Hey
Funny, I received exactly the same fine. Also parked at that beach close to Famara for surfing.

So far I have received three letters from them, all in spanish. First one was in August 2018. I asked a spanish friend to translate the letter for me, and she told me, that the first 6 months, and if you don't object, you get 40% reduction of the fee (check your letter again, it says so somewhere in the middle)

So far I haven't paid it, and I'm not sure if I should. I found out that in Spain it's 4 years until it can't be prosecuted anymore.

Let me know how it plays out for you.

Best regards

beamerguy

blablubb99 wrote: »

Hey
Funny, I received exactly the same fine. Also parked at that beach close to Famara for surfing.

So far I have received three letters from them, all in spanish. First one was in August 2018. I asked a spanish friend to translate the letter for me, and she told me, that the first 6 months, and if you don't object, you get 40% reduction of the fee (check your letter again, it says so somewhere in the middle)

So far I haven't paid it, and I'm not sure if I should. I found out that in Spain it's 4 years until it can't be prosecuted anymore.

Let me know how it plays out for you.

Best regards

Do you live in the UK ?
Ws this a rental car or your own