Italian driving offences - help please

[GregorJP]

Me and the family go to Italy at least once a year. Typically, we try different parts of the country to see what we like, with a view to hopefully buying a property there one day.


The usual form is to book a bog-standard 4-door saloon with the hire car company, arrive, try to upgrade to the baddest-ass car they have, fail, and then hoon around the place like I stole it. I've been flashed by numerous cameras on the autostradas when flat out, and the worst that's ever happened is a traffic cop on a bike once waved his finger at me for doing 100mph whilst on the phone. He then sped off. In short, I drive like every other Italian. When in Rome..

Anyway, for the first time ever, I received two tickets from our last trip, via the hire car company. Annoyingly, both relate to driving in a segregated area of Florence. This is solely due to the wife getting us lost, despite having a map, satnav and Google maps.

My question is - should I pay the tickets? They are for €150.

I'm a lawyer by trade, so no fear of a little dust up in correspondence. However, I don't want to arrive on my next holiday and be banned from the country/arrested.

Anyone with any knowledge of this? Thanks.

[Rick H]

€150 - take it on the chin, pay it and forget about it. It ain't worth the hassle.

[Marv968]

Originally Posted by Rick H

€150 - take it on the chin, pay it and forget about it. It ain't worth the hassle.

Agreed.

I imagine they'd now have you on their database and if you get pulled over whilst over there in the future, you might end up with a much bigger fine or maybe worse dragged to the police station and charged.

[alexk]

Originally Posted by GregorJP

I've been flashed by numerous cameras on the autostradas when flat out, and the worst that's ever happened is a traffic cop on a bike once waved his finger at me for doing 100mph whilst on the phone. He then sped off. In short, I drive like every other Italian. When in Rome..

How did you get flashed ? That's very interesting.

I received once a parking ticket from Como in Italy, but I wrote them back telling them I am not accepting this as I was not there this date (which is true).
They never followed up.

[Roland]

Originally Posted by Marv968

Agreed.
I imagine they'd now have you on their database and if you get pulled over whilst over there in the future, you might end up with a much bigger fine or maybe worse dragged to the police station and charged.

+1

[mattCSLnut]

Originally Posted by Rick H

€150 - take it on the chin, pay it and forget about it. It ain't worth the hassle.

+1 as it's not excessively expensive, all things considered... although I'd ask for a receipt

[still no worries]

Let's face it as a lawyer it's going to take you about 20 minutes to make that , just pay up !

[shimmy]

Originally Posted by still no worries

Let's face it as a lawyer it's going to take you about 20 minutes to make that , just pay up !

This 👆

Or just double bill someone next week

[plumber vic]

Originally Posted by shimmy

This ��

Or just double bill someone next week

Now that's Plumbers talk

[Marchino]

Originally Posted by GregorJP

Me and the family go to Italy at least once a year. Typically, we try different parts of the country to see what we like, with a view to hopefully buying a property there one day.


The usual form is to book a bog-standard 4-door saloon with the hire car company, arrive, try to upgrade to the baddest-ass car they have, fail, and then hoon around the place like I stole it. I've been flashed by numerous cameras on the autostradas when flat out, and the worst that's ever happened is a traffic cop on a bike once waved his finger at me for doing 100mph whilst on the phone. He then sped off. In short, I drive like every other Italian. When in Rome..

Anyway, for the first time ever, I received two tickets from our last trip, via the hire car company. Annoyingly, both relate to driving in a segregated area of Florence. This is solely due to the wife getting us lost, despite having a map, satnav and Google maps.

My question is - should I pay the tickets? They are for €150.

I'm a lawyer by trade, so no fear of a little dust up in correspondence. However, I don't want to arrive on my next holiday and be banned from the country/arrested.

Anyone with any knowledge of this? Thanks.

Mate, I may be the only one that would humbly suggest you not to pay the ticket...
I am Italian and I have received tickets from Italy and Spain for similar traffic offences in the past. i never paid and nothing happen to me. i still rent cars in Italy and elsewhere.
Please don't think this is the usual "Italian" way to deal with the law....because i am a very law abiding citizen! (After living 17 years in London....)

Very simply, as far as I know, Italian 1000's police forces don't share a centralised database. Most probably the ticket you received is from "comune di firenze" that is the local authority/municipality. They have your address only because the car rental is obliged to pass your data but, unless you collect other 20 tickets in florence, they will do absolutely nothing.

In UK i pay all the traffic ticket immediately (or i represent them) and i would do the same if I were living in Italy. however my suggestion is doing nothing.

Enjoy Italy forever, it is a beautiful country!

Marco