Five owe 6.5 million kronor in parking fines
Five motorists in Stockholm have between them amassed parking fines of a whopping 6.5 million kronor.
In total, Stockholmers owe 193 million kronor in parking fines, which can range from 425 kronor to 700 kronor depending upon whether the misparked car is actually blocking traffic.
But the debt is far from evenly spread out among the city's residents, reported Svenska Dagbladet. At the top of the list of illegal parkers is a 43 year old man from Sollentuna who has 1,583 unpaid parking tickets, totalling 1,754,200 kronor.
He is closely followed by another 43 year old man who is sitting on 1,290 tickets, amounting to 1,334,800 kronor.
However, this may not simply be the result of extreme forgetfulness or inability to make sense of the city's cryptic parking signs. Roger Eriksson at the Swedish Enforcement Administration reckons it could be a scam.
"These people could be acting as keepers of the cars. That means that it is registered under their name, but they don't own it. They could have been paid a certain amount of money to register the car."
According to Eriksson, the registered 'owners' could be in prison or just have lost control of their debts. Either way, it will be almost impossible for the city to recover the money.
Even if the Enforcement Administration manages to track down the car, the threat of impounding it usually has no effect. In many cases the car is not worth the cost of towing it away.
"We can't impose a fine just for the sake of it," Eriksson told SvD.
Comments
See Also
In total, Stockholmers owe 193 million kronor in parking fines, which can range from 425 kronor to 700 kronor depending upon whether the misparked car is actually blocking traffic.
But the debt is far from evenly spread out among the city's residents, reported Svenska Dagbladet. At the top of the list of illegal parkers is a 43 year old man from Sollentuna who has 1,583 unpaid parking tickets, totalling 1,754,200 kronor.
He is closely followed by another 43 year old man who is sitting on 1,290 tickets, amounting to 1,334,800 kronor.
However, this may not simply be the result of extreme forgetfulness or inability to make sense of the city's cryptic parking signs. Roger Eriksson at the Swedish Enforcement Administration reckons it could be a scam.
"These people could be acting as keepers of the cars. That means that it is registered under their name, but they don't own it. They could have been paid a certain amount of money to register the car."
According to Eriksson, the registered 'owners' could be in prison or just have lost control of their debts. Either way, it will be almost impossible for the city to recover the money.
Even if the Enforcement Administration manages to track down the car, the threat of impounding it usually has no effect. In many cases the car is not worth the cost of towing it away.
"We can't impose a fine just for the sake of it," Eriksson told SvD.
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.