I got EPC Parking and Vignette fines in Hungary. Can I avoid paying?

[TobyQuest]

In January I was in Budapest
1) asked the traffic warden can I park here, he said not on this side of the road but the other side is fine. Came back and had a parking ticket. Turns out there was a meter up the road and I was supposed to get a ticket. He never mentioned that!

2) Driving into Hungary from Austria, I was careful to avoid going on the Hungarian motorway because I didnt want to pay for the vignette, however as soon as i crossed into Hungary it put me on a motorway and i took the 1st exit right away but they had cameras on it and i got a fine for driving on the motorway with no vignette.

So fast-forward to now and a week or so ago I received 2 fines for a around £90 each for both of these incidents.
However I dont want to pay them. And I looked up on the net and some sites are saying if you received the notification about the fine more than 60 days after the incident then its invalid.

Anyone know if this is true, or have experience about this?
Anyone who has not paid Euro Parking Collection and what happens next?

The fact that UK is no longer in EU does this also mean they have no power to do anything?

 

[Brains]

I know this thread is quite old but I found this post interesting.

I am really cross with myself, received a fine from EPC yesterday from our trip to Hungary in September saying no Vignette. I’d bought lots of Vignettes online including Hungary. After very careful checking I’ve realised I made a stupid mistake. The final letter on the number plate is wrong, I put a K instead of an X.

You can appeal but still have to pay the exorbitant £55 admin charge! It all has to happen within 60 days. It says you can do it by post or online. In fact there’s no email address so having read your post maybe that was just as well. We were there 4 days so might wait a few days to maybe send a package with a nice handwritten letter to Steven.

To compound my stupidity one month later I bought another online from my cleverly created account so that has the same damn reg number. So in another month I will no doubt get more as we went to Budapest.

Remember to use broadly the same wording as they do re costs, and charge the same £55 amount to deal with their issue.

Always remember they are not nice decent people, and two can play at hardball.

 

[ivorantony]

Similar to my experience with them, after being fined for driving round the M50 in Dublin, regular letters increasing charges that were promptly posted in the bin, after three years they gave up,

This was just after the Irish government removed the tollbooths and put up gantries with APR cameras,

 

[nicholsong]

It would be very interesting to know what countries have arrangements with what other countries to provide driver/owner/registered keeper information to countries requesting it, I assume most of these arrangements have a cost.

So does Albania pay for an arrangement with Estonia?

I can understand that France may find it beneficial to pay DVLA for information but it may not be beneficial for other countries that do not see much traffic from smaller countries.

Does anyone know if there is a source for such links?

 

[Just smiffy]

Getting a letter for a fine and paying it is a different matter…if I don’t pay it can you get taken to court in the uk for a speeding or parking fine in France……

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Northernraider]

Getting a letter for a fine and paying it is a different matter…if I don’t pay it can you get taken to court in the uk for a speeding or parking fine in France……

No

They won't take the risk of losing

 

[carolyn]

I assumed I’d get taken to court in England?

 

[Howard H]

I assumed I’d get taken to court in England?

I will be your character witness for you ,don’t worry

 

[Just smiffy]

No

They won't take the risk of losing

I know that but many others are concerned, can a French organisation take you to court in England or if they sell/give the info to a company in the uk and they try and take you to court… the cost of this and the chance of winning is slim as there may have been data protection laws broken along the way… and for what, a fifty euro fine…

 

[Just smiffy]

I’ve ignored parking fines in the uk and have never been taken to court…

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Phill D]

Getting a letter for a fine and paying it is a different matter…if I don’t pay it can you get taken to court in the uk for a speeding or parking fine in France……

As it’s not a criminal offence I believe they have to take out a civil case.

Is that financially sound decision by them?

 

[Northernraider]

I assumed I’d get taken to court in England?

If you ignore all threats and letters give them no response whatsoever they will never take the chance of taking you to court. Too much to lose they'd have to prove you were driving, that you'd received the letters etc etc .

They pray that you will be intimidated and you will pay up for an easy life.

 

[Northernraider]

As it’s not a criminal offence I believe they have to take out a civil case.

Is that financially sound decision by them?

And they've to pay for the court time.

If you then don't turn up or claim financial poverty etc they could get nowt or have to wait a long time.

In my case I'm unemployed and in receipt of no benefits no wage etc.
If I was taken to court I could offer to pay £1 per week and it would have to be accepted. After a few weeks I'd stop paying and they'd have to take me to court again at more expense.


I don't give in to bullies.

If I have debts I pay them , the few times I had motoring convictions I paid them too .

But a parking ticket or fine for allegedly overstaying a time limit or misunderstanding a sign I ain't paying.
The one I got in Hungary I was in a quiet residential street ,there were no visible signs or meters that I could see ...I was one of 2 vehicles parked in the street and I came back to a 4 page ticket in a language I couldn't understand wanting €60/70 ..

The one I got from Portugal the gnr assured me was not a fine just a warning for parking by the beach . I signed the form I was told to thst was in Portuguese and 3 years later they sent a fine for €360

And the other Portuguese one was when I went on a toll road by mistake through a via verde lane with no barrier , I got to a booth 2 Miles down the road and because I had no ticket they wanted €87 from me , there were many cameras at each tollgate so they could have easily checked to see where I entered . Because I refused to pay the €87 and blocked the exit from motorway they opened barrier after taking my address details etc . They sent a bill/fine for over €200

All 3 got binned , both Portuguese ones from 2018 and 2019 , Hungary one from 2021/2

 

[WESTY66]

I will be your character witness for you ,don’t worry

carolyn God help you

 

[FTC1966]

Is there any finish to this ?

I received a epc letter as well for entering a Hungary Motorway without purchasing a e-vignette, enter by mistake and never saw any signage also letter was recieved after the 60days, Ive also had 4 letters from trace debt collectors with the last being a "red", to which I've ignored all letters.

I've rang DVLA to see if they gave my details to epc for a "road traffic offence" in Hungary or a car park offence in the UK, as there are 25 reasons as to why DVLA can legally give your details, and a minor "rto" in Hungary is not one, they would not tell me as i believe also it is a £750 fine for DVLA for giving details falsefully, I can apply for a form to find out "who" or "if" they gave details too.


This may help any issue from Gov.co.uk website

"Since 1st January 2021, UK drivers can no longer receive fines via the post for minor traffic offences committed in the EU. However UK drivers can still receive on the spot fines in person in EU Member states"

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Northernraider]

Is there any finish to this ?

I received a epc letter as well for entering a Hungary Motorway without purchasing a e-vignette, enter by mistake and never saw any signage also letter was recieved after the 60days, Ive also had 4 letters from trace debt collectors with the last being a "red", to which I've ignored all letters.

I've rang DVLA to see if they gave my details to epc for a "road traffic offence" in Hungary or a car park offence in the UK, as there are 25 reasons as to why DVLA can legally give your details, and a minor "rto" in Hungary is not one, they would not tell me as i believe also it is a £750 fine for DVLA for giving details falsefully, I can apply for a form to find out "who" or "if" they gave details too.


This may help any issue from Gov.co.uk website

"Since 1st January 2021, UK drivers can no longer receive fines via the post for minor traffic offences committed in the EU. However UK drivers can still receive on the spot fines in person in EU Member states"

Bin and forget

 

[vzac]

Is there any finish to this ?

I received a epc letter as well for entering a Hungary Motorway without purchasing a e-vignette, enter by mistake and never saw any signage also letter was recieved after the 60days, Ive also had 4 letters from trace debt collectors with the last being a "red", to which I've ignored all letters.

I've rang DVLA to see if they gave my details to epc for a "road traffic offence" in Hungary or a car park offence in the UK, as there are 25 reasons as to why DVLA can legally give your details, and a minor "rto" in Hungary is not one, they would not tell me as i believe also it is a £750 fine for DVLA for giving details falsefully, I can apply for a form to find out "who" or "if" they gave details too.


This may help any issue from Gov.co.uk website

"Since 1st January 2021, UK drivers can no longer receive fines via the post for minor traffic offences committed in the EU. However UK drivers can still receive on the spot fines in person in EU Member states"

In one of my previous lives, I used debt collection companies many times. So apart from the international bit of getting your address from somewhere, I would say if the debt was less than approximately £250, then 4 usually 3 letters are sent getting more firm, but they must not threaten in any way, but they should say what the consequences could be. That said a red letter, could be construed as aggressive. The most they can do is put you on a black list so your credit score is low reducing your ability to get loans and perhaps new phone contracts. If you are not bothered about that just bin them. I am of the age that if my credit score is so bad then so be it I don't want anything on tick anyway. I know it's annoying and somewhat worrying but don't. Even if it goes to court and you are requested to pay, no need as to take it further it will cost them a lot to take it to county court.
It's not worth worrying about, and do not answer them or even speak to them, untill you do they don't actually know you have received any correspondence.
All the best.

 

[carolyn]

My circumstances were slightly different in that I’d bought vignettes but I’d made a mistake on the reg no on the new van and put a K instead of an X , compounded it by phone using Autofill for the return journey.
I did manage to consolidate the fines quite a bit but EPC got about £100 admin of each one and Hungary about £3.50! It was very frustrating as I paid one more than I needed to as the 60 day deadline was up and no sign of a reply to my appeal. The reply didn’t make sense anyway mind.

Since B word Spain and Hungary have agreed to share info but Spain do their own collection and Hungary use EPC.

I know this as I had a speeding fine in Spain last year within an hour of getting off the ferry. The certificate is lovely though, nicer than my medical degree!

We were about to go to Panama for 5 weeks so I just couldn’t bear any more hassle.

 

[pappajohn]

Is there any finish to this ?

The thread is a year old.

 

[vzac]

The thread is a year old.

So what happened, did he go to court, was he fined, did he go to prison, how long for? Was the van confiscated? Was he barred from Europe or just Hungary. Come on the suspense is overwhelming. I NEED TO KNOW

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[jerryz]

if a Debt collection agency or sends more than 3 letters in a 4 month period its is deemed harassment in the county courts , i have used this in my fights against rogue UK parking companies several times and gained compensation and had cases thrown out costing them a lot of money ...Also breaches of GPDR are frowned upon by the judges and adjudicators , and they will penalise that or throw a case against you out ..

 

[Just smiffy]

several times

You really are the most unlucky bloke I know, or do you just go looking for it….

 

[FTC1966]

Since B word Spain and Hungary have agreed to share info but Spain do their own collection and Hungary use EPC.

? "Since B Word" never heard of this can you explain ?

 

[carolyn]

? "Since B Word" never heard of this can you explain ?

Sorry Brexit, we’ve got into the habit of not using the whole word to try to avoid people going off on political rants. Hopefully it will be OK me just explaining it to you as a newby. Please don’t get political on me. Thanks.

 

[jerryz]

You really are the most unlucky bloke I know, or do you just go looking for it….

No your wrong about me being always unlucky I fight scams and injustice more than 70% of private parking tickets are wrong and can be fought, but it is likely that 80% of illegal tickets cases are just paid up by the public because they dont know how to fight them and the bullying letters scare them , i help other people to fight them ,,i enjoy taking on the parking companies ,, they rely on the publics laziness and ignorance of the law for their huge revenue streams .. Some councils are also taking the mickey and I fight them too.. For instance brighton council used to fine people turning into the park and bowling club accross a bus lane until I fought them in court , then thay had to admit oin their scam,,, Euro car parks were scamming many people in one of their car parks in Swindon until I beat them in court ,,, and my old Flat in Sussex where I had private parking for 27 years the management illegally started charging and having a parking company CPM issue tickets to us ,, I fought that in county civil court court and won ,, it was illegal and in breach of our leases ...Most of the flat owners had paid the fines and the parking company had to pay everyone back with costs ....And the management had to drop the scheme ...

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[mohobot]

Personally I would be very careful about not paying fines etc now. I have a feeling the new EU ETIAS system might draw out this kind of information in the future, unfortunately these days history is not such a great indicator of what may happen in the future!!
I spoke to to one motorhomer last year & he said he was pulled by the Slovakian police for not having paid the vignette & they said he would be put on the Interpol database!
It is my experience that it is very difficult at times not to accidentally get onto tolled roads & in environmental zones if you are nearby, which is why I buy the appropriate vignette before I go & have French & German environmental stickers. It is very difficult if you are anywhere near Paris for example not to get directed onto the LEZ ring road, all roads lead to Paris after all!
Pay the man upfront & avoid all this!!