# Court fine



## spanish55 (Apr 17, 2014)

Several years ago, i got fined by a court for a driving offence, but I was told that as long as i never got into trouble again, and because I was leaving Spain that I should not pay it.
I plan to come back to Spain, and although Ihave emailed what I believe is the court in Alicante, they will not respond to me. I have heard that I could get arrested when I arrive in Spain, so I want to sort this out before I arrive. Any ideas, or does anyone have an email address for alicante court?


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

spanish55 said:


> Several years ago, i got fined by a court for a driving offence, but I was told that as long as i never got into trouble again, and because I was leaving Spain that I should not pay it.
> I plan to come back to Spain, and although Ihave emailed what I believe is the court in Alicante, they will not respond to me. I have heard that I could get arrested when I arrive in Spain, so I want to sort this out before I arrive. Any ideas, or does anyone have an email address for alicante court?


Arrested for a traffic fine?? Very unlikely I would have thought.
What they want, if anything is the money for the fine.

I wouldn't have thought a traffic offence was a court case either. This is usually dealt with by the Dirección General de Tráfico = DGT, details here.
Alicante

In any case geting in touch with organizations like this via email is not really viable. I would have thought your best bet would be to get in touch with an English speaking gestor (not lawyer) , who are professionals in paperwork.


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## spanish55 (Apr 17, 2014)

Ok, it was for drink driving. I got caught the morning after. Not proud of it. Didnt really want to say. I did fight it, as I did not speak Spanish and was never offered a translator and spoken only in Spanish, but somehow I lost, despite teh police saying they knew I didnt speak spanish and they didnt speak english. There was also a medical condition that was not taken into account. The law firm I used have ceased trading (not surprised ) so I cant even go back via them. I want to pay the fine, and make sure the 18 month ban has now been and gone (this was 5 years ago) as I never gave my license in and I have been otld that if I did not the ban hasnt started yet.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

spanish55 said:


> Several years ago, i got fined by a court for a driving offence, but I was told that as long as i never got into trouble again, and because I was leaving Spain that I should not pay it.
> I plan to come back to Spain, and although Ihave emailed what I believe is the court in Alicante, they will not respond to me. I have heard that I could get arrested when I arrive in Spain, so I want to sort this out before I arrive. Any ideas, or does anyone have an email address for alicante court?


Who the h*ck told you that gem of advice - "don't pay the fine as you are leaving"?

This is why we have such a bad reputation - we seem to think it's OK to run away from our debts!


Anyway, rant over, like Pesky says, all they want is the fine plus interest. I would just come back and ignore it - if they do ask about the fine, simply offer to pay it.

Spain in general just don't do emails - ringing them or going there in person is the best approach.


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## spanish55 (Apr 17, 2014)

The local police told me that.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

spanish55 said:


> The local police told me that.


Ah, the "traffic wardens" - not really police at all (IMHO), they seem to just supervise zebra crossings for the school kids :tongue1:


Can't understand why they would say that though .


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## Campesina (Dec 17, 2011)

This isn't 100% foolproof but if you want to check to see if you are on record for anything in the province of Alicante enter your name here under 'texto' together with your NIE number if you have one then click on 'enviar':

Edictos publicados en el B.O.P.

Make sure you give a wide selection of dates from just before the date of the offence to a year or more afterwards.


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## spanish55 (Apr 17, 2014)

thanks Campesina. I had done some searches before using my NIE and name. I only found a €10 fine which was presumably for parking on such like back in 2006. I cant see that anything is outstanding. There is another possibility. When in court, the translator who was English said to me after the hearing that there is no way I would be prosecuted as the police had not offered me a translator, which breaches my civil rights. I got an email from the lawyer to say that I was to be fined and banned from driving. The lawyer has now ceased trading, and I can find no trace of them. I wonder if they were not telling the truth, as my legal bill was much more than my fine!


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

spanish55 said:


> thanks Campesina. I had done some searches before using my NIE and name. I only found a €10 fine which was presumably for parking on such like back in 2006. I cant see that anything is outstanding. There is another possibility. When in court, the translator who was English said to me after the hearing that there is no way I would be prosecuted as the police had not offered me a translator, which breaches my civil rights. I got an email from the lawyer to say that I was to be fined and banned from driving. The lawyer has now ceased trading, and I can find no trace of them. I wonder if they were not telling the truth, as my legal bill was much more than my fine!


That may be true, although I'm not 100% sure who's responsibility it is to find a translator.
If you had been banned I would have expected more than an email from a lawyer - wouldn't you? No official paper through the post with your name and ID number on it??
I don't know. This case seems to have more holes in it than real facts, but if you were banned, were supposed to have given in your licence, to have paid a fine and you didn't, and on top of that continued to drive in the EU, you could be in quite a lot of trouble. However, that will be translated into financial fines more than prison sentences I think.
The only way to find out is to face the music and go to the correct officials either yourself or by paying someone else to on your behalf. Make sure you have a lot of euros saved up. No one on the forum can give information about this. You have to get the right people to investigate.


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## spanish55 (Apr 17, 2014)

Pesky Wesky said:


> That may be true, although I'm not 100% sure who's responsibility it is to find a translator.
> If you had been banned I would have expected more than an email from a lawyer - wouldn't you? No official paper through the post with your name and ID number on it??
> I don't know. This case seems to have more holes in it than real facts, but if you were banned, were supposed to have given in your licence, to have paid a fine and you didn't, and on top of that continued to drive in the EU, you could be in quite a lot of trouble. However, that will be translated into financial fines more than prison sentences I think.
> The only way to find out is to face the music and go to the correct officials either yourself or by paying someone else to on your behalf. Make sure you have a lot of euros saved up. No one on the forum can give information about this. You have to get the right people to investigate.


The lawyer said if we prove they did not offer a translator, then they have to withdraw. They did not offer and two police there (male and female - actually kissing each other outside the court room!!) even admitted this in court.I was also on antidepressants, but could not express this, and was not offered any other type of testing. Even the translator in court said they would have to withdraw the charges and i had been lucky.

I know though for a fact that I was only banned in Spain, not the EU. I called the DVLA in the uk twice to make sure I was legal there, and two different people said I was only banned in spain. 
I never got any further paperwork from the court after the original hearing, and it went to three court hearings.


EDIT. Actually the two police contradicted themselves, the female said she knew i didnt speak spanish and the male one said he knew i did, but both said i was not offered a translator. They would have to offer, how could i ask them otherwise!!


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