'Illegal' parking fines challenged
Motorists' group hopes to overturn fines in at least a dozen towns in France on a legal technicality
A MOTORISTS' association is urging drivers in a dozen towns around France to appeal against their parking fines, claiming local councils are not respecting the rules.
40 Millions d'Automobilistes is hoping to get hundreds of fines overturned on a legal technicality.
The group says communes are required to display clearly the municipal decree outlining on-street parking rules, and that these must include a clause explaining why the decision to charge for parking was taken.
It claims it has already found 12 towns that are not obeying the rules. They are: Calais, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Rueil-Malmaison, Chartres, Reims, Sens, Auxerre, La Baule, Montluçon, Vienne, La Ciotat and Arcachon.
The group says the list could get longer, as it is continuing to receive information from its 300,000 members around France.
40 Millions d'Automobilistes has already succeeded in getting fines cancelled and the rules changed in Rambouillet (Yvelines).
The association's president Rémy Jousseaume told Le Parisien: "Our aim is not to encourage people to avoid paying, but to make communes respect the law."
The group's website has details of how to appeal against the fines (in French).
